A Philadelphia man faces charges of theft and criminal trespassing after allegedly stealing coaxial cables from a cell tower site in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, worth thousands of dollars.
As reported by Tri-State Alert, Nurlan Nurkan Uulu has been charged with felony theft, felony theft of a secondary metal, felony receiving stolen property, felony criminal trespassing, and misdemeanor criminal trespassing. The charges are in relation to an incident that occurred on May 29, 2024.
He is also charged with felony theft, felony theft of a secondary metal, felony receiving stolen property, felony criminal trespassing by breaking into a structure, and citation criminal trespassing for an incident dated June 1.
Uulu is currently in jail in Bedford County, with bail set at $200,000.
Tri-State Alert reports that Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) troopers were dispatched to a cell tower site and parts depot in the 2400 block of Lincoln Highway in Brush Creek Township, Fulton County on June 7 after Verizon Wireless technicians contacted the police force following electronic notifications of an unauthorized door entry on June 1.
According to the technician, locked doors to the site had been forcibly accessed, while all of the inactive coaxial cabling had been cut.
That coaxial cabling had been removed from the tower and building, with grounding wire also stolen off the tower, noted the PSP.
It's claimed that Uulu and at least one accomplice were able to gain access to the site using a “known combination to the lock” that was on the fencing before forcibly breaking into the buildings.
Twelve coaxial cables are seen, according to PSP, not connected to anything and were capped where they terminated inside the building. Because the cables weren't being used, it meant that the perpetrators did not set off any alarms.
It's estimated that all of the inactive cables, totaling 3,360ft in length, have a replacement value of $35,000.
Other incidents with similar motives have been carried out in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, according to PSP, with witnesses previously logging the registrations of a pickup truck and enclosed U-Haul that were seen to be loaded with coaxial cable.
On that occasion, the criminals fled after being confronted by a witness. The registration of the truck was linked to Uulu. The police think that the second person involved could be Talgat Dzhakshylykov.
Dzhakshylykov has been hit with identical charges to Uulu, but has not yet been arraigned in Fulton County and remains at large.
It's alleged that Uulu and the second person, spoke with a “Russian accent” and were reportedly heard on CCTV footage from the Fulton County site speaking what sounded like Russian. PSP noted that Uulu matched the description of the man in the Jefferson County incident and the Fulton County incident.
Troopers say that two men can be seen going to the site on June 1 and prying themselves into the buildings as well as using a ladder to climb the tower.
The following day, Uulu is reportedly seen on camera with the second man, coming back to the site with hard hats and climbing gear, where they allegedly removed numerous fasteners for the coax cables and then pulled the cables off the tower before chopping them into about 10-foot sections.
While carrying out the theft, it's alleged that Uulu moves the CCTV camera out of frame from the tower, before moving it back after the work is done.