5 charged after AT&T wire thefts caused widespread outages in North Carolina
By Kelly Doty
Click here for updates on this story
BUNCOMBE COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — Five suspects face charges in what the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office called an AT&T wire theft ring that caused widespread outages across the county.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation began in December 2025.
Working in partnership with AT&T personnel, the sheriff’s office said detectives found several burn and wire-stripping sites in Swannanoa and the Leicester community, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cut wire.
The sheriff’s office said Travis Warren Glenn was charged with two counts of felony larceny, two counts of injury to utility wires/fixtures and two counts of injuring property to obtain nonferrous metals and posted a $20,000 bond. He was then charged with two more counts of felony larceny and two counts of injury to utility wires/fixtures and posted a $25,000 bond.
Justin Bryant Banks was arrested and charged with obtaining property by false pretenses, two counts of financial card fraud, attempting to obtain property by false pretenses, felony conspiracy, financial card theft, hit and run/failure to stop with property damage, no liability insurance and driving while license revoked and was issued a $10,000 bond.
The sheriff’s office said Banks also has three active warrants, including injury to utility wires/fixtures, injuring property to obtain nonferrous metals and felony larceny.
Sheron Nicole Nelon was charged with injury to utility wires/fixtures, injuring property to obtain nonferrous metals, felony larceny and felony conspiracy. Authorities said she posted a $50,000 bond.
Joseph Clay Bryant was charged with obtaining property by false pretenses and felony larceny. He was issued a $5,000 bond.
Kevin Michael Fox was charged with injuring property to obtain nonferrous metals, misdemeanor larceny and possession of stolen property. He was issued a $5,000 bond.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.