3 charged with stealing scrap metal from burned Rock Hill McDonald’s site

Published: January 7, 2013 

A fire completely engulfed and destroyed the McDonald's on East Main Street in Rock Hill early Thursday morning, officials say. Five fire engines, two ladders and 35 personnel were called to the blaze at the restaurant on 1232 E. Main St. at 3:30 a.m., where they observed light smoke rising from the building, said Chief Rusty Myers with the Rock Hill Fire Department.

ANDY BURRISS — aburrisss@heraldonline.com Buy Photo

— Three Rock Hill men were arrested Friday after police say they stole more than $2,000 in scrap metal from the wreckage site of the burned McDonald’s on East Main Street.

Police were called to the McDonald’s, destroyed two weeks ago by a fire, after a Rock Hill man and Charlotte woman called saying they saw people stealing materials from the lot, according to a Rock Hill police report.

One of the witnesses followed Ricky Darnell Crawford, 51, to a Carolina Avenue Extension address as police were responding, said Rock Hill Police Lt. Brad Redfearn. They found an air conditioning unit in the bed of his green Ford Ranger.

Crawford admitted to officers that he took the unit, although he said workers cleaning up the site gave him permission to take it, the report states. Crawford was arrested and charged with obtaining nonferrous metals.

Crawford’s arrest led police to Nathan Jay Morgan, 55, and Bernard McCullough, 50, at 340 Marshall Street, where they found miscellaneous scraps of metal inside a trailer attached to a Ford Explorer. Both men admitted that they got the metal from McDonald’s.

Crawford has been taken to the York County Detention Center on a $7,500 bond, jail officials said. Morgan, of 340 Marshall St., was released Saturday on a $7,500 bond. McCullough, of 104 Long St., was also released Saturday on a $2,000 bond.

Fire officials said it’s not possible to determine the cause of the blaze that displaced 60 employees because of significant structural damage.

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