Sep. 14—Federal prosecutors have charged a Bucks County man with breaking into four decommissioned coal-fired power plants — including facilities in Berks and Chester counties — and stealing scrap metal, then selling it to metal recycling businesses in Philadelphia.

Michael Garrison, 43, of Croydon is accused of causing more than $1.5 million in damage to the former Titus Station on Poplar Neck Road in Cumru Township by ripping out copper wire and scrap metal, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia announced.

Prosecutors said that between 2018 and August 2021, Garrison broke into Titus Station, Cromby Station in Chester County, Southward Station in Philadelphia and Gould Street Station in Baltimore to rummage for copper wire and other metals, which he sold to scrap yards in Philadelphia.

Between January 2020 and August 2021, Garrison sold stolen scrap 175 times and was paid more than $117,000, prosecutors said.

Garrison is charged with destruction of an energy facility, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, filing a false tax return and related charges.

"Brazenly breaking into and damaging a power facility — for any reason — is unacceptable," Jacqueline Maguire, special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Division, said in a statement. "It's imperative to hold perpetrators accountable for their destruction and, in doing so, we seek to also deter others from committing such a serious federal crime."

Garrison also is charged with filing a false tax return in 2020 that failed to disclose the $62,000 he made from stealing scrap.

"No matter the source, all income is taxable," IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Yury Kruty said. "Garrison is alleged to have earned a living by stealing. Income derived from theft is taxable."

Garrison was initially detained July 14, 2021, by Cumru police when he was found trespassing on Titus Station property. He was released at that time pending further investigation. Police later obtained a state arrest warrant for Garrison, who was arraigned in May and remains in Berks County Prison awaiting transfer to federal custody.

According to the arrest warrant:

Sgt. Thomas Pinkasavage saw Garrison drive an old pickup truck past no-trespassing signs onto the Tituts property.

The officer followed the truck to a gravel road parallel to the railroad tracks at Klapperthal Junction and walked over to Garrison, who was standing outside the truck.

Garrison told Pinkasavage that he was in the area to help his daughter who was riding a dirt bike on a nearby trail, but he was unable to contact her because he did not have a signal for his cellphone.

Pinkasavage offered to use his phone to call Garrison's daughter. When Pinkasavage called the number provided by Garrison, he got a message saying, "The subscriber you are trying to reach is not in service."

Pinkasavage noticed Garrison smoked Newport Menthol cigarettes, which is the brand of discarded cigarette butts and packages left behind by someone in previous break-ins of the power plant property. Pinkasavage also found it interesting that Garrison's home in Croydon is only 16 miles from the Philadelphia gas station that sold the lottery tickets found at Titus after one of the break-ins.

Police impounded his truck and obtained a search warrant. They found blueprints and maps of Titus, hand-held radios, binoculars and tools such as wire and bolt cutters believed to have been used in the burglaries.

Garrison's offenses occurred as Cumru police were investigating frequent burglaries at the Titus station that caused millions of dollars in damage.

Two Philadelphia men were arrested last summer a few weeks after Garrison was detained near Titus, which is visible from Route 422.

Police were called to several burglaries at Titus during July 2021, with most of the crimes believed to have taken place on weekends when workers for the owner of the property were not there.

Michael A. Nicolai, 40, of Philadelphia, and Michael Kostelny, 44, of Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, were apprehended when a worker at a nearby business reported seeing someone smoking outside the Titus plant and called police.

Both men were charged with burglary, theft and conspiracy. Court records indicate the burglary-related state charges against both men have been dropped. Further information was unavailable.

The Titus power plant began the deactivation process Sept. 1, 2013, and was fully decommissioned in June 2014.

It was one of hundreds of coal-fired plants in the U.S. that have been shut down in favor of facilities that use cleaner natural gas.

A King of Prussia company plans to repurpose the plant into a plastic recycling facility that would take trash and turn it into plastic pellets. It would be the first U.S. facility for ReFined Plastics LLC.