MONTGOMERY – A father and son from Florida face felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly stealing $4,500 worth of communication wire from Norfolk Southern Railroad property in the borough, according to court records filed at the office of District Judge C. Roger McRae.

Craig Martz Wheaton, 55, and Craig Neil Wheaton, 31, both of Keystone Heights, had been hired by a local communication company to install communication wire, but the two stole such wire from along railroad tracks near Bower Street between early and mid-December, railroad police allege in an affidavit.

The elder Wheaton was caught in the act of allegedly cutting wire from a railroad pole in the borough on Dec. 20, polices said.

The Wheatons are accused “of stealing wire for scrap and were planning to sell the insulation to a collector,” police said. The father admitted he and his son were “stockpiling the wire in a warehouse in Watsontown and they were planning to take it back with them to Florida,” the affidavit stated. Investigators recovered what the two were stockpiling.

The two men face charges of theft, attempted theft, receiving stolen property, recklessly endangering, risking a catastrophe, railroad vandalism and criminal mischief. Warrants have been file for their arrests and they are are expected to be arraigned on the charges at a later date.