ROCK HILL — A Rock Hill man accused of stealing copper pipes from a vacant rental house was still wearing gloves and muddied coveralls when police found him in his yard and charged him with copper theft on Monday.

A witness told police she thought she heard a loud explosion outside her Cornelius Street home around 10:45 a.m. When she looked outside, she saw James Gregory Byers, 48, dragging a copper pipe away from a vacant house, according to a Rock Hill Police report.

Officers went to the house and found a dismantled A/C unit with several pieces missing, the report states. Police checked Byers’ last known address on Blanche Circle, off Crawford Road, and found him standing in the yard.

He wore latex gloves and fresh mud on his coveralls, the report states.

Byers insisted that he didn’t steal the metal. The woman who saw the theft identified Byers, who was arrested and charged with larceny of metals. He was being held Tuesday at the Rock Hill jail on a $30,000 bond.