A New Caney man who made his television debut early last week got a special visit from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Thursday night after he was identified as the person shown on hidden camera stealing copper wire from a communications tower.

Christopher Burton Thomas, 36, was charged with two counts of theft of copper, (valued at) less than $20,000, a state jail felony punishable by 180 days to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000 per count; unlawful use of a criminal instrument, also a state jail felony; evading arrest or detention, a Class B misdemeanor; 16 outstanding warrants from Precinct 4, including no driver’s license; failure to appear; no liability insurance; failure to identify; expired motor vehicle registration; 11 warrants for capias profine; and an outstanding warrant from the 221st District Court for surety with possession of a controlled substance.

Last week, Houston’s KTRK Channel 13 broadcast a video of a copper thief in action, taken by an unseen camera set up on a cell tower in East Montgomery County. The video showed a small, heavily tattooed Caucasian man with bolt cutters break into a box containing copper wiring, then calmly and meticulously remove the wiring.

Lt. Dan Norris, with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, said the broadcast evoked a response from a viewer of the video.

“Deputies received a tip that the suspect was the man in the video stealing copper and when they went to his home to investigate, they found him with other stolen items,” Norris said.

Around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, MCSO officers converged on Thomas’s home in the 18200 block of Emerald Circle, located in the Emerald Forest subdivision off FM 1485.

Thomas tried to escape through the back of his house but was captured, Norris said.

The MCSO Auto Theft Task Force joined the other officers and seized a tractor with an altered VIN number from the residence.

Norris said the case is under investigation by MCSO detectives.

Captain Bruce Zenor, who heads up the MCSO Criminal Investigations Division, called copper theft a “crime of opportunity,” which is easy and “extremely lucrative.”

He said copper theft has reached “epidemic proportions,” and estimates the loss in Montgomery County alone to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for businesses and corporations.

“The cost will be passed on to the consumers sooner or later,” Zenor said.

AT&T plans to provide training for law enforcement to recognize the types of copper wire to assist in their investigations, he said.

Meanwhile, some companies are installing hidden cameras like the one that captured the video responsible for Thomas’s capture.

Thomas’s prior convictions include two DWI conviction; multiple counts of driving while license suspended, driving while license invalid and possession of marijuana, along with unlawful carrying of a weapon.