A man accused of stealing about $20,000 worth of copper from a York warehouse on Monday apparently returned Thursday to break in and steal again, according to a police report.

York police were stationed at the Tex-Fil yarn warehouse this week following Monday’s burglary.

Around 2 a.m. on Thursday, police say, 25-year-old Ronald Wayne Hedgepath Jr. of Rock Hill attempted to break into the Kings Mountain Street warehouse.

Officers approached Hedgepath as he was trying to break the lock on a warehouse door on Thursday. He was wearing camouflage, according to the police report, and he first tried to hide from police.

As officers moved in on Hedgepath he ran, scaling two fences and fleeing into the woods, the report states.

The York County Sheriff’s Office brought in their K-9 unit and tracked Hedgepath hiding less than one mile away from the warehouse.

Hedgepath surrendered to police, saying he “did not want to be bitten by the K-9,” the report states.

York police arrested Hedgepath, the report states, and he admitted to Monday’s break-in.

They also found blue bolt cutters at the scene, which police say fell out of Hedgepath’s hand as he was running away Thursday morning.

According to the Sheriff’s Office website, Hedgepath is charged with two counts of criminal conspiracy, two counts of grand larceny, resisting arrest, three counts of burglary and possession of a tool capable of committing a crime.

Hedgepath is being held at the York County Detention Center on a $66,000 bond.

He told arresting officers in York that he wears an ankle bracelet monitor “due to other criminal charges as a sex offender,” according to the police report.

A background check from the State Law Enforcement Division shows Hedgepath was convicted in April 2012 of violating his electronic monitoring device probation. He was charged by police with a misdemeanor sex offender charge in July 2008, according to SLED records.

Anna Douglas 803-329-4068