Sheriff: Men Caught Selling Stolen Metal

Deputies arrested two men Monday who they say stole window screens and other metal items from an unoccupied home for sale near Lexington.

Julius Peter Gaye, 59, of Lexington and Ulysses Devon Hampton, 48, of Columbia are charged with petit larceny, according to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. Gaye was also charged with possessing crack cocaine.

Deputies received a call around 1:30 p.m. Monday about a theft in progress at the unoccupied home on U.S. 378, according to the sheriff's department. Witnesses saw a white pickup truck drive away from the area with a cargo bed full of metal items. 

A detective drove to CMC Recycling on Two Notch Road to try to find the white pickup truck, according to the sheriff's department. The detective saw Gaye and Hampton unloading metal items from Gaye's white 1986 Isuzu Pup pickup truck. 

The detective disovered that the men did not have permission to take the metal items from the home, according to the sheriff's department. The stolen items included five aluminum window screens, one large strip of aluminum siding, a frying pan and an aluminum folding lounge chair. 

Deputies arrested Gaye and Hampton at the recycling center. While searching Gaye, a deputy found a plastic bag inside the baseball cap Gaye was wearing that contained crack cocaine, according to the sheriff's department. 

Gaye is being held at the Lexington County Detention Center on a $5,000 bond. Hampton was released Tuesday on a $2,130 personal recognizance bond.