TEXARKANA, Texas - A woman who was caught stealing electricity in September was sentenced Monday to a year in a Texas state jail as part of a plea bargain.
Donna Marie Terry, 53, appeared with Assistant Public Defender Clayton Haas before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell on video from the Bowie County jail. Terry pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, under $30,000, involving the theft of electricity from Bowie-Cass Electric Co-op and admitted to violating conditions of probation she was serving for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and burglary of a building.
As part of a plea arrangement, Terry was sentenced to 12 months in a state jail on all charges.
A lineman for the electric company told the Bowie County Sheriff's Office in September about a meter in the 700 block of County Road 1109, according to a probable cause affidavit. The lineman advised that an anonymous caller had called about suspected tampering with the meter.
"Upon removing the 300 series self-reporting meter, he discovered the main service had been bypassed as two pieces of metal tooling had been used to bridge across the surfaces to provide unmetered and undetectable electric service," the affidavit states.
Terry lived in one of two trailers on the property. The meter supplied electricity to one living unit and extension cords from that unit fed power to an RV occupied by Terry.
When questioned, Terry told the deputy that the power had been cut off recently and she had informed her landlord, who lived in the other trailer on the property. Terry said that after she told the landlord about the lack of power, he had done something at the meter and power had been restored.
While Terry was attempting to cast blame on her landlord for the power theft, it was the landlord who had reported the theft to Bowie-Cass. He told the electric company that he had been unable to pay the bill and had moved in with a family member while the power was off.
The landlord said he returned to the property to collect a few belongings and discovered the power was back on and worried that Terry had tampered with the meter. The landlord said that when he asked Terry about the power restoration, she told him not to tell anyone, but he contacted Bowie-Cass.
The landlord told deputies he had been having problems with Terry and wanted to evict her.