The Banks County Sheriff’s Office charged five people with criminal trespass after they allegedly broke into the raw water pump station at the city reservoir Monday.
Banks County deputies and Commerce police officers were called to the scene after a water plant employee noticed that the security system indicated an intrusion at the pump station.
When Commerce police arrived, they found the employee with five people sitting outside the pump station, which takes water from the city reservoir and pumps it uphill to the treatment plant.
The suspects range from a juvenile to age 21. They include:
•Kevin Nathan Carter, 17, 116 Hillcrest Street, Commerce
•Kevin Lee Burr, 21, Water Plant Road, Commerce
•Kalum Shane Hart, 17, Water Plant Road, Commerce
•Sharee Rosalee Lunsford, 18, Water Plant Road
Major Kyle Bryant of the Banks County Sheriff’s Office said the suspects scaled two fences and broke the lock off the pump station door.
Asked what the suspects intended to do, Bryant said that remained unclear.
“They said they were there to watch the sunrise. Obviously, that’s not what they were doing,” Bryant said.
One of the suspects had removed a fire extinguisher from its position, but it is unclear whether he planned to take it or use it, officials said.
“It could have created havoc if they’d released the fire extinguisher on the electrical controls,” noted Bryan Harbin, the city’s director of water and sewer operations. “It could have cost the city tens of thousands of dollars plus we would have lost the water system.”
Such a move might also have injured the suspects.
“There probably would have been an electrical explosion,” Harbin predicted.
Bryant said alcohol apparently did not play a role in the incident.
City officials at first feared that the incident was an attack on the water system. That no longer appears to be the case. However, there is still some possibility that federal charges could result under the Homeland Security Act.
