Duo Wanted for String of Cell Tower Thefts Caught in North Kingstown

Two men caught stealing copper wires and bars from a cell tower in North Kingstown last week are believed to be responsible for a string of similar thefts in the area.

Police said they arrested Kenneth Wade Maston, 32, of Attleboro, Mass.; and Jared Kuffrey, 27, of Wrentham, Mass., on April 13 after an officer sent to investigate a tamper alarm at the tower located at 180 School St. and found the two men posing as workers along with a car loaded with tools and copper wires and bars.

According to a police report, Maston and Kuffrey were both wearing shirts that said “Electronix Redux” and Kuffrey said he was in charge of the job and they were at the site to begin a job building a platform.

The officer noticed several pieces of hardware in the trunk of a black Ford Mustang parked at the scene, along with metal bars, wires, clamps and two sets of bolt cutter.

Kuffrey said that the scrap metal was from an old job and “he usually gives it to his boss,” according to the report.

Both men said they worked for Paramount Communications even though they were wearing T-shirts with a different company name.

Maston said he was a new employee and had been on the job just about a week. A few moments later, police realized that Maston had an active bench warrant.

As police continued to ask questions, Kuffrey started to get nervous. He could not produce a work order, invoice, employee ID number or contact information for his employer. He did, however, have “detailed knowledge of the cell-site and what work was to be performed there.”

Kuffrey “questioned us on how he would know the combinations to the access gate and cell-lock site if [his] explanation was dishonest.”

Kuffrey even checked in at the main office of Davisville Middle School to let them know he would be on school grounds.

Police contacted the tower owner, Crown Castle, and they were unaware that Kuffrey was to be at the site.

When asked to show the pictures of the site that Kuffrey claimed he was taking for the job, he “appeared to be very nervous and had trouble locating the photographs he had taken,” saying to the officer: “I must have deleted them.”

Kuffreys hands began to shake at about the same time a man who works for Verizon Wireless arrived at the scene and said there was no reason that Kuffrey should be at the scene. He also noted that the Mustang at the scene has been involved in several larcenies from cell sites in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The Verizon employee said that he has personally seen Kuffrey and his vehicle at vandalized cell sites and the company was on the lookout for it.

Police said the damage at the site, which included the cutting of dozens of wires, was estimated to cost upwards of $30,000 to fix.

The property that was damaged belonged to Verizon, Metro PCS and T-Mobile.

Detectives found a handwritten note in a tool box in Kuffrey’s trunk with “dates and locations of other cell-sites,” police said, and the addressed matched sites that had been “severely vandalized and the same items had been taken.”

Both men have been charged with felony larceny, conspiracy and multiple trespassing charges.

Kuffrey was released on cash bail and is due to return to court on May 12 for an attorney general screening conference.

Maston is also due to appear in court on May 12.