The man who stole more than $100,000 worth of copper wire from a San Diego post office will spend 30 months in prison, a federal judge ordered Friday.
James Stephen Dudley, 40, broke into the Midway Post Office at 2535 Midway Drive on Sept. 16, 2015. Federal prosecutors say Dudley cut the lock of a fence surrounding the facility to get in.
In the middle of the night, Dudley spent hours stripping the copper wire, but postal inspectors saw him drive his vehicle onto the property and load about 673 pounds of the stolen metal inside it.
According to the prosecutors, Dudley planned to scrap the wire for cash as he had on at least five other occasions last year.
Instead, he was arrested, and he pleaded guilty to theft of government property in December.
During his Friday sentencing, the judge also ordered Dudley to pay $123,984.08 to the U.S. Postal Service for damage done to the Midway facility.
