United States. An air conditioning thief faces up to 15 years in prison after being accused of releasing refrigerant into the atmosphere. According to local television station KSN News, Wichita police have charged 43-year-old Byron Stuckey with three counts of ventilating a class ll substance.
The conviction carries a potential federal prison sentence of 15 years and a fine of up to $750,000. Police say he is suspected of stealing air conditioners dating back to 2008. He was arrested by police in 2012.
Stuckey pleaded guilty to stealing copper from dozens of air conditioning units in 2012, but the judge suspended the sentence to 12 months of probation. Police alleged he was responsible for 68 air conditioning thefts in the area and are believed to have air conditioning units stolen from homes as well as eight local churches.
This is not the first air conditioning thief to be prosecuted in the U.S. for arbitrarily releasing refrigerant into the atmosphere. Last year, in Ohio, Martin C Eldridge III, 35, was sentenced to 21 months and 20 days in prison and 200 hours of additional community service for violating the federal Clean Air Act by cutting air conditioning ducts during the act of stealing air conditioning units for his copper scrap.
