CALLAWAY — A Callaway man has been arrested on felony charges for allegedly stealing more than 28,000 gallons of water from the city, according to arrest records.
Anthony G. Delarosa, 34, was arrested Monday and charged with grand theft and tampering with a Callaway utility meter after allegedly stealing about a month’s worth of water from the city, Bay County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Deputies were called by city employees to Delarosa’s Beaver Street home Monday at about 10 a.m. The city employee said he shut off Delarosa’s water on Nov. 24 and locked the meter. When the city employee returned on Dec. 19, the lock had been cut off so he replaced it. The next day the city employee returned again and replaced the second lock that had been cut off the meter, BCSO reported.
When deputies arrived Monday, the third lock had been severed from the water meter. The city employee valued each of the locks at about $5 each and calculated the amount of water used during the time frame to be 28,240 gallons — a value of about $379. The report gave no reason why so much water was used in a month.
Delarosa was charged with grand theft and tampering with a utility meter.
Delarosa told the deputies he continued to cut off the locks because “he was going through a rough time financially and could not afford the bill,” BCSO reported.