Tennessee man caught in the act of theft at a KJAS owned communications tower site

A newsman is accustomed to reporting the news, but it was a different situation on Tuesday when Mike Lout of KJAS was in the middle of the story. Lout had gone to a Cold-War era radio communications tower which he owns near the Mayflower Community in northwest Newton County and arrived at the site to find someone stealing copper lines and waveguides from the facility, and loading the stolen items into a trailer. Lout, along with another employee of KJAS, blocked the suspect’s vehicle and called the Newton County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies arrived and arrested the suspect. He has been identified as Jeremy Johnson, a resident of Tennessee. Johnson was transported to the Newton County Jail where he was arraigned on a charge of Theft and later released after making arrangements to post bail.