As a result of a joint investigation involving the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, Rumford Police, and the Mexico Police, Ralph W. Whalen, 50, of Peru, Maine was arrested Aug. 7 by Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office detectives and transported to the Cumberland County Jail.
He was subsequently charged with three counts of burglary and three counts of theft. On Aug. 7 investigators were tipped off to a theft of metals from outside a local machine shop in Mexico, Maine. Information was received that Whalen was involved in the theft.
Further investigation into the Mexico incident revealed that Whalen was a former employee of Dielectric Communications, Inc., of Raymond. Rumford Police Detectives contacted the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office to inquire about any prior thefts reported at Dielectric. Dielectric had, in fact, recently reported a burglary and theft of $9,600 worth of copper and brass material from their plant on Tower Road in Raymond.
Whalen was detained at the Rumford Police Department and charged with misdemeanor theft by Mexico Police. Cumberland County detectives responded to the Rumford Police Department and questioned Whalen regarding the Dielectric burglaries. At the conclusion of the interview, Whalen was arrested and transported to the Cumberland County Jail.
Whalen allegedly told police that he was selling the stolen metals to various scrap metal dealers/recyclers throughout Maine and New Hampshire where the current market value for copper is $3.51 per pound.
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