Tuesday, October 9, 2007 10:28 AM CDT

Man Found Electrocuted In Warehouse

Times Record Staff

A man was electrocuted in Fort Smith Monday, while possibly attempting to steal copper from a former furniture factory.

The man, in his mid to late 30s whose identity has yet to be determined, was found dead inside the vacant Flanders warehouse, 1801 Wheeler Ave., after police received an anonymous 911 call at 7:07 p.m., according to Capt. Mark Hallum.

“I’m not sure this gentleman had a legal reason to be there, but copper theft is a definite possibility,” Hallum said.

Officers found the man lying in a hallway across from an electrical box and administered CPR, but could not revive him, according to Hallum.

The electrical unit appeared to have exposed wiring.

Officers have not determined how the man broke into the warehouse. This was the second break-in at the warehouse on Monday. Officer George Harley was dispatched to the warehouse on Monday afternoon in response to a copper theft report, according to Hallum.

The identity of the person who reported the electrocution is unknown, but Hallum said the caller could have been inside the warehouse with the man.

“We’d certainly like to talk to whoever this was to find out if they have more information,” he said.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 10:13 AM CDT

Police Say Man Died Stealing Copper

By Hicham Raache

TIMES RECORD • HRAACHE@SWTIMES.COM

The unidentified man electrocuted at a warehouse Monday died while pilfering copper from machinery, in what may have been his second theft from the building.

The Fort Smith Police Department has yet to determine the identity of the man, who appears to be in his mid to late 30s, according to investigators. Officers with the Police Department were notified of the electrocution after a dispatcher received a 911 call from a pay phone at a gas station on Jenny Lind Road at 7:17 p.m. In a recording of the 911 call, a woman is heard telling the dispatcher that, “A friend of mine got electrocuted at Flounders (sic).” The female caller explains to the dispatcher that “Flounders” is an “abandoned building” on Wheeler Avenue. With the help of a co-worker, the dispatcher surmises that “Flounders” is actually Flanders Industries, a former furniture factory at 1801 Wheeler Ave. The caller hung up when the dispatcher asked her for the exact location of the pay phone she was calling from.

Cpl. George Harley responded to the call. He had been called to Flanders earlier in the afternoon in response to a burglary. The burglar had pried a piece of siding from the east side of the building and entered through a hole. After speaking with Dudley Flanders, the owner of the building, and learning that $10,000 in copper had been stolen, Harley resealed the makeshift entrance. But when he returned a few hours later, he found the siding had been bent back open and that a second entry gap had been created, according to a police report.

Harley entered the warehouse and unlocked a door for firefighters and EMS personnel to enter and assist him in searching the 900-foot-long warehouse, which is comprised of four sections. Harley said he was searching inside the warehouse when he came upon the entrance created in the earlier burglary and found a white male lying face up on the concrete floor with his feet near a generator, according to the report.

Noticing that the man was not breathing, Harley and EMT Drew Waack dragged the man to a safer location and attempted to resuscitate him. The man could not be revived and was pronounced dead, the report states.

No form of identification was found on the man, according to Sgt. Jarrard Copeland.

“A lot of times before they go commit a crime they’ll go remove all (identification),” he said.

A five-gallon bucket containing recently cut copper wires was found near the generator. The area where the unidentified man was found had been stripped of copper in the previous burglary. Harley stated in his report that the unidentified man may have committed the first burglary and returned for more copper.

“That wiring had not been fully removed from this machinery,” he stated. “This perpetrator had started removing it when he was electrocuted.”

It is likely, Harley stated, that the deceased was assisted by an accomplice who might not be the woman who contacted 911.

“Someone had been on the opposite side of the generator and was assisting in the removal of the copper items,” Harley stated. “This subject left the business with whatever tools were being used and fled, leaving behind the unidentified, dead male.”

Harley stated in his report that it is possible the accomplice went to the 2100 block of Jenny Lind Road and asked a woman to call the Police Department and report an electrocution at Flanders.

Copeland said he hopes the woman who reported the electrocution will contact the Police Department and help them determine the dead male’s identity and the circumstances surrounding the electrocution.

While investigating both burglaries, Harley found items believed to have been left by the suspects. Copeland said such items may provide physical evidence that could help investigators learn the identity of either the deceased or an accomplice.

The deceased is described as a white male between 35 and 40 years old, 6 feet tall, 220 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes and a beard. He also has a grim reaper-style tattoo below his right shoulder area and a long, circular birthmark on the middle, left side of his back

Thursday, October 11, 2007 10:16 AM CDT

Police Identify Man Found Electrocuted

By Hicham Raache

TIMES RECORD • HRAACHE@SWTIMES.COM

Fort Smith police have learned the identity of the man who was electrocuted while attempting to steal copper from a local warehouse on Monday.

A woman called the front desk of the Fort Smith Police Department Tuesday and told Cpl. Charles Warr that the man who was electrocuted at Flanders Industries, 1801 Wheeler Ave., was Danny Selph.

Investigators checked with local and eastern Oklahoma law enforcement agencies and found that the Sallisaw Police Department had dealt with a Danny Paul Selph, a 38-year-old Van Buren resident, on past occasions, according to Sgt. Jarrard Copeland.

Sallisaw police provided Fort Smith investigators with a copy of Selph’s fingerprints.

Selph’s prints were positively matched to prints taken from the body found at Flanders on Monday night. Selph’s family also identified the body as that of Paul Selph, Copeland said.

Investigators have determined that Selph broke into Flanders to steal copper from machinery.

They believe he was electrocuted while removing copper from a generator with the help of an accomplice.

A woman called 911 from a pay phone on Jenny Lind Road at 7:17 p.m. and reported that her friend had been electrocuted at Flanders, but hung up when the dispatcher asked for her exact location.

After comparing the 911 call on Monday to the informative call on Tuesday, Copeland said the woman who reported Selph’s identity also likely reported the electrocution, Copeland said.

“She says ‘um’ a lot in (both calls), and you can sense a lot of worry in her voice,” he said.

Submitted on 05/20/2008

Submitted by: RickH
Reference: SWTimes inf Fort Smith, Oct, 2007

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Candi said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Another fried felon foiled by fatal filching. An addition to your collection, Darwin. And thanks for your submission, Rick!

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Cooked crook! Here ya go, Darwin. Another one.

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