Sep 5, 2008 5:23 pm US/Eastern
DCR Worker Accused Of Stealing Scrap Metal
Investigators Looking Into Possible Connection With Missing Longfellow Bridge Trim
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Some 2,300 feet of the Longfellow metal trim is missing from the same Stoneham labor yard that a DCR employee is accused of stealing from.
WBZ
A longtime
Department of Conservation and Recreation worker has been suspended for allegedly selling scrap metal from the same state labor yard that the Longfellow Bridge's historic metal trim is missing from, WBZ's Kathy Curran has learned.
The employee, whose name is not known, is accused of selling metal from a yard in Stoneham. According to sources, the worker allegedly used the money from the metal sales to fund a party for co-workers. He has been suspended for eight days.
His suspension comes as officials are trying to figure out what happened to 2,300 feet of the Longfellow metal trim stored at that same yard.
State officials said Thursday that as recently as about three weeks ago, all the sections from the Longfellow Bridge appeared to be on the site in Stoneham. Then, earlier this week, two-thirds of the total was discovered missing.
Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis said police will follow through with the investigation.
"We are taking this very seriously and will prosecute if necessary," he said.
Police have secured the Stoneham Labor Yard, where the missing 2,347 linear feet of decorative, cast-iron trim had been stored. The Middlesex County District Attorney's office has also launched an investigation into the disappearance.
Once melted down and resold as cast iron, the missing sections would be worth an estimated $10,000.
Officials said recreating the sections could cost as much as $750,000.
Last year approximately 3,467 linear feet of the decorative parapet coping was removed from the outside edge of the Longfellow Bridge while repairs to the bridge were under way. Officials planned to have the sections refurbished and eventually reattached to the bridge.
The sections were stacked in piles of 13 or 14 sections each in a fenced-in corner of the yard. As recently as about three weeks ago, all the sections appeared to be on the site, officials said.
The coping is unique, having been molded and cast about 100 years ago specifically to decorate the Longfellow Bridge.
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