Church Hill plumber allegedly steals water from utility district

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December 26th, 2014 11:23 am by Jeff Bobo

CHURCH HILL A Church Hill plumber was charged last week with felony theft for allegedly reconnecting his disconnected water service a second time after having already been warned not to by the utility district.

On Dec. 19 the First Utility District (FUD) based in Church Hill reported to the Church Hill Police Department that Merle Eugene Parsons, 43, 418 Elm Springs Road, Lot 24, had allegedly been stealing water.

A FUD employee stated that Parsons' water service was disconnected on Nov. 18 for non-payment.

Since then the FUD employee had reportedly disconnected Parsons' water service a second time after the water meter to Parsons' residence had been tampered with.

The FUD employee told police advised Parsons not to tamper with the water meter again.

"On Dec. 19th, the employee checked the water meter again and observed that water had been restored to the residence," said CHPD Chief Mark Johnson. "Officer Kevin Grigsby spoke with Mr. Parsons while on the scene. Mr. Parsons stated that he only tampered with the meter to get water to the home to fix a frozen line."

Johnson added, "Mr. Parsons also stated that he works out of town as a plumber and had the parts used to restore the water to his home. Mr. Parsons also stated that he knew he had been advised not to tamper with the water meter in the past."

On Monday CHPD Detective Daniel Byington spoke with the director of the First Utility District who stated that Parsons' water bill was $238.64, the parts to fix the water meter were $150, the wages for two employees to be called out to fix the meter were $118.38, and the service fee to cut water on is $25 for a total of $532.02.

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Church Hill plumber allegedly steals water from utility district