Two Burney men were tracked down by Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputies after a surprisingly not-so-original plan to make money from stolen copper. At 2PM Sunday afternoon people on Black Ranch Road near Vedder Road reported a white Dodge Ram pickup dragging a long length of heavy gauge copper cable, apparently trying to strip the insulation to increase its scrap value. They were gone when deputies got to the area, but evidence led to Covanta, a nearby energy plant that’s no longer operating. It was clear the place had been burglarized and wire was tampered with. The plan to strip the wire left a tail in the snow, which deputies followed to a house off Highway 299 in Johnson Park. A white Dodge Ram was parked there with a cable still attached to it. Another 500 pounds of copper wire was found in the garage. Robert Dale Cox and Robert Paul Milner, both 50-years-old, were booked on felony and misdemeanor warrants, and will also be charged with theft. This is not the first time this scheme has been done in the Burney area. Several years ago someone stole a large amount of copper wire from a major interstate transmission line project in the Burney area and used the same method to strip it.