Henderson County Sheriffs Arrest Man Facing Charges in Multiple Counties

Henderson County -- January 4, 2024: Henderson County Sheriff's Office Press Release

On December 5th, 2023, Henderson County Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes Unit received a report for a past tense larceny of AT&T coax wire. With the information provided in the report, Detectives went to the incident location and began gathering information on how the suspect entered the property of AT&T.

As the investigation progressed, Detectives were in contact with Lead Investigators/ Asset Protection of AT&T. Detectives were able to gain information about an individual who had been observed on video surveillance in Asheville NC. and then was later encountered on another AT&T site in another county.

Once Detectives identified the suspect, they were able to link ten other cases that dated back to May 19th, 2023.
Vincent DePaul age 36 of Syracuse New York was arrested while committing one of the crimes and subsequently charged with the following.

• Injury to utility wire and fixtures (F) (x10)
• Larceny (x9)
• 1st Degree Trespass (M) (x10)
• Obtaining property by false pretense (F) (x9)
• Possession of stolen property (F) (x9)

The suspect is currently in the Henderson County Detention Center under a $810,000.00 bond and has a hold from New York for the same type of charges with full Extradition.
Currently, the Henderson County Property Crimes Unit is assisting AT&T with other wire theft investigations that has occurred in multiple counties in NC.

As of December 1st, 2023, the NC State Legislature changed the offense of Injury to Utility Wire to a Class “C” Felony.
"To preserve the integrity of this investigation, no further information will be given pending adjudication of this case."

Editor's Note:* A criminal charge is an accusation, by law, a person accused of a crime is innocent until proven in a court of law.