Several people have been arrested at what has become a hot spot for metal scrappers in Fauquier County and will now face charges, authorities announced.
Gainesville resident Paul Leonard, 46, and 48-year-old Josh Smith, of Broad Run are the latest to be apprehended for targeting scrap metal in the 7000 block of Kennedy Road in the early hours of Monday morning.
A spokesperson for the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office said that at around 4:20 a.m. on Jan. 29, the agency received reports of multiple flashlights by the scrap metal on county property that belonged to the Water and Sanitation Department.
It was the same location that three others were arrested less than 24 hours earlier.
At the scene, deputies found two men on foot and two vehicles parked with their lights off and engines running. When approached by investigators, both stated they were taking scrap metal from the pile with the intention of selling it, claiming they believed it to be free and they had been busy for hours.