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April Cater and Joseph Russell, Pennsylvania Couple, Steal $7,146 Of Copper To Fund Wedding: Cops


First Posted: 09/27/11 02:52 PM ET Updated: 11/27/11 05:12 AM ET

If gold is for a 50th wedding anniversary and silver is for a 25th, then copper is for the wedding day itself.

At least that's the case for a bride and groom from Pennsylvania, accused of stealing copper -- valued at more than $7,000 -- to pay for their nuptials.

April Cater, 24, and Joseph Russell, 23, have been charged with theft, criminal conspiracy and criminal mischief for cutting copper wire, from 18 utility poles in North Sewickley Township on Aug. 9, the Beaver County Times reports.

The duo -- who were set to be married on Aug. 13 -- then sold the metal to a salvage company, according to the Associated Press.

The day after the incident, the salvage company gave police surveillance video purportedly showing the couple, the Beaver County Times reports.

The couple reportedly told police they resorted to theft after Russell lost his job.

A source with North Sewickley Township Police told The Huffington Post that the couple are "cooperating" with investigators.

Cater and Russell aren't the only residents of the Keystone State accused of turning to crime to pay for their wedding.

Last Month, Arthur Phillips III, 32, and Brittany Lurch, 22, were accused of shoplifting food from a supermarket to serve at their wedding reception.

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Wendy Stewart
01:07 PM on 09/28/2011
Idiots...lmao
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Heidi Dietrich
Furkids are people too.
10:22 AM on 09/28/2011
There are ways to have a less expensive wedding. I keep thinking of Steve Martin in Father Of The Bride when he said I used to think a wedding was a simple thing. Boy meets girl, they get engaged buy some rings and say I Do. I was wrong. That's marriage. A wedding is an entirely different thing. My other sister made her own dress for her wedding. She's very talented. It was cheaper, she got to make what she wanted and it was a beautiful dress. And there is also the knowledge that it was made by hand and if her daughter should ever want to wear it, she knows it was made with love by her mother for her wedding. I remember how hard she worked on it. It came out beautiful.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Heidi Dietrich
Furkids are people too.
09:44 AM on 09/28/2011
I hope they had matching monogrammed handcuffs as a gift from the police department. The honeymoon suite at the local prison perhaps?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Heidi Dietrich
Furkids are people too.
09:43 AM on 09/28/2011
The house next door was for sale and one day, I looked out the window and someone was trying to break in. I called the police and they came down. They never got the guy but said that he was probably trying to get the copper. I called the real estate agent and they didn't give a damn about it. IMO, this is what happens when people think they are entitled to the best things in life. I have learned I'm not and learned to be grateful for even cans and bottles so I could redeem them for milk. Life has a way of humbling you. I had to pay for braces for my shoes out of pocket, not a problem for me cause that's what you have to do in life. Paid for my knee surgery till the deductible was met and recovered with no short term disability. This is life. A wedding is NOT a necessity of life.
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kencrn419
The past laughs last...
05:42 AM on 09/28/2011
And these two beauties will soon be filling their trailer park with bouncing baby criminals.

Oh, joy.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Heidi Dietrich
Furkids are people too.
09:57 AM on 09/28/2011
Mom? Dad? Tell me about your wedding. What happened on the honeymoon? Where did you go? Oh, we went and spent it in the big house. There were a lot of bars around there. So many to see. That's the day your father really knew he had acquired the ball and chain. In fact, we had a matching set. And matching bracelets. Silver. They were beautiful.
05:24 AM on 09/28/2011
Wonder what they had planned for their mortgage downpayment.
tccat4
We all have a right to our opinion, like it or not
02:47 AM on 09/28/2011
Looks like many ground wires (made of heavy guage copper) wont be of any use when the voltage surge hits. How stupid.
01:40 AM on 09/28/2011
Pair of no good idiots..it's a match made in heaven...
01:26 AM on 09/28/2011
Wow - good thing they did not get electrocuted - power lines right? I am from pa, now live in FL - that does not even make the news here - guys are doing it everyday - copper is going for 3.75/lb last I checked - I brought some old metal left overs to the scrap yard, the guy ahead of me had a pickup filled with wire - $10,000 he got - my mouth was on the floor...

But has anyone noticed that the story and the first few images depict a poor US and a happy wealthy china.... except the Mc Donalds wedding - anyway china looks much different then I was in grade school...
01:44 AM on 09/28/2011
Yep, in Texas they fill the pockets that hold the wires with expanding material to prevent people just from opening a panel and taking it. I know people in the construction business and it happens all the freaking time.
09:08 AM on 09/28/2011
I do metal work, and I had cut the metal beams to build a Heavy Duty flat bed, this guy and his wife comes along and takes it!!! I had a contract to build it for $2500 with is cheap as heck - he got $12 - got caught and when to jail for 3 months. Why would he waste time on this - go for the copper - I wish I had the low moral to do it...
12:30 AM on 09/28/2011
It isnt just a wedding theres alot of things going on, the worse the economy gets you'l probably see alot more of this.
12:30 AM on 09/28/2011
Now we know what to get em for their copper aniversary.........
12:24 AM on 09/28/2011
Saw similar behavior on Bridezillas - if you don't have the funds maybe it would be better to have a small simple wedding. Selfish people!
01:45 AM on 09/28/2011
I agree! You can have a really cheap reception in your own home with a potluck and go to the judge to get married!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Heidi Dietrich
Furkids are people too.
09:48 AM on 09/28/2011
Heck, that's what my sister did. I was in band practice when my brother came to get us. He said my sister got married and we were going out to dinner. I wasn't dressed for it but he said that was fine. I had on my 88 football shirt, a pair of jeans and a pair of sneakers. It worked for me. I was in seventh grade. It was actually one of the nicest wedding dinners I had ever been to. Small, intimate and no fuss about dresses and stuff. I liked it. That's the way to go.
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Drew2U
Emily is not amused.
12:19 AM on 09/28/2011
Why even consider a wedding if one of you is unemployed? Priorities, people.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Heidi Dietrich
Furkids are people too.
09:34 AM on 09/28/2011
They could have just gone to a justice of the peace and tied the knot. I don't see the need for huge weddings anyway. If I ever got married, I wanted a small one. With just my family and a small dinner. When my sister got married, she went to JP and we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant after. I liked it more. We got to celebrate it nicely. A mood of excitement just among my mother, my grandfather, the mother of the groom and my siblings. That's the way to do it in my opinion.
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Drew2U
Emily is not amused.
01:48 PM on 09/28/2011
I completely agree
11:29 PM on 09/27/2011
no excuses, they should have put off the wedding, i hope they pay for replacement of the copper and do time too
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
bmitche
11:25 PM on 09/27/2011
How embarrassing !!