So, there he was Wednesday afternoon, just minding the City of Benwood’s business, and – out of the blue – the Chief of Police called.
“Chief (Frank) Longwell said, ‘There’s someone in the building again! I’ve got them on camera right now! We need to get in there!’,” said David McLaughlin, one of three members of the Marshall County Commission.
“So, me and Capt. Brian Handzus got a plan together and called Marshall County deputies to come up to the Industrial Park in Benwood, and after we saw him the camera, we went into the main door of the old steel mill,” he explained while he was a guest on the River Network’s ultra-popular “Novotney Now” program. “No lights, pitch black.”
The structure, once a facility operated by Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel before its closure in the early 1980s, is now owned by Mull Industries and is utilized as a storage facility. All of the doors to the interior have been secured, but for several months, thieves have been breaking in.
“We go as far in the building as far as we can in the pitch black, so we turned on the lights and, bam, he is,” the Commissioner recalled. “He was right there in front of us, and he took off running and then climbed up into the rafters. It was very dangerous, and we didn’t know if we were going to see him fall or what. And we were talking to him, too.”
As was reported yesterday afternoon by Marshall County Sheriff Mike Dougherty, the perpetrator was identified as Benjamin E. Senkbeil of Wheeling, a male who was reportedly released from Northern Regional Jail earlier this week. Officers from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, the West Virginia State Police, the Benwood Police Department, and the Moundsville Police Department responded to the incident, as did the Benwood Volunteer Fire Department.
According to Doughterty, Senkbeil was processed and lodged at Northern Regional Jail, and he’s now facing three felony counts of Entry of a Building Other than a Dwelling and with a misdemeanor – Obstructing and Fleeing from an Officer.”
Under West Virginia Code, county Prosecutor Joe Canestraro confirmed, the felonies carry a jail sentence of 1 to 10 years, and his magisterial hearing is scheduled for February 9th at 2 p.m.
And it all started with the chase, and once Senkbeil scaled to the structure’s rafters, he circled McLaughlin and Handzus while trekking along the building’s catwalks.
“We kept telling him that he needed to come down because we had him cornered, and he said he was going to, but he just kept moving. It was obvious to us that he wasn’t coming down anytime soon,” the commissioner said. “He also told us that he just wanted to back home to Cleveland, and he just kept climbing up in the rafters, and he was at least 30 feet in the air.
“But then he went through a window and went out on the roof, and by then the units that responded had drones up in the air watching his every step, and they had the dogs on the ground. It was an impressive response, and his capture was inevitable this time,” he explained. “He was up on that roof in 15-degree weather, so we knew it was only a matter of time.”
Career Flashback
It felt like a time warp of sorts.
McLaughlin retired from the Benwood Police Department following a 21-year career (1992-2013) in law enforcement, and along with his position on the County Commission, he is employed as Benwood’s Operations Director.
That’s why he’s very aware there have been so many issues with trespassers, damage, and theft that have caused at least $775,000 in damage, according to officials with Mull Industries.
“For several months now, our police officers have been experiencing issues with people breaking into the building, and they’ve caused a lot of damage and they’ve stolen a lot of copper,” McLaughlin reported. “Police have caught a lot of them while they’ve been in the act. It’s not been just a few. It’s been a lot, and there are cameras everywhere.
“But it’s a former steel mill so there are all kinds of nooks and crannies where these people have been hiding when the police have been looking for today. That’s why that guy did (on Wednesday) because he was in there this morning,” he said. “But these guys have been brave because it’s not a safe place in there unless you’re familiar. And it’s pitch black in there, too.
“When these thieves break in, one of the biggest problems that law enforcement has is that the place is just so big. Sometimes, they just can’t find them.”
In fact, authorities believe Senkbeil escaped capture earlier yesterday.
“It is believed he was actually there in the morning. We saw him on the cameras, but when they chased him, he disappeared because there are so many hiding places in that mill. It was also possible that he ran off the property,” McLaughlin said. “We know it was the same guy because of his clothes, so I’m glad he was arrested because those thieves are destroying the place.
“Even after it was operated by Wheeling-Pitt, other companies worked in there and they used the cranes and a lot of the machinery that was left in there when it closed,” he said. “But those things don’t work anymore because of all of the copper that’s been taken out of the place. They’ve dug every little piece of copper they’ve been able to find in those buildings.
“They’ve cut wires off the ceilings, out of the fuse boxes … everywhere they could find copper, they cut it up ad they’ve taken it.”
But why?
“Money.”
From whom?
“That’s a good question because all of the companies around here tell us that they don’t buy it. So, it has to be someone outside of the area, and the word is that they take it to the Pittsburgh area,” McLaughlin said. “So, they are probably taking it up there or they are selling it to someone local who then buys it and takes it to Pittsburgh.
“Copper is pretty valuable right now.”
So, what about the future?
“It’s a game of hide and seek sometimes,” the Marshall County commissioner insisted. “This time, though, it was great police work by members of a lot of different agencies working together.
“And when I tell you there are a lot of cameras in the building, I mean there are a lot of cameras, and we’ll continue taking these thieves to jail where they belong.”
