Man Charged With Stealing Zakim Bridge Beacon
Instead of responding to “one if by land and two if by sea,’’ Massachusetts State Police “spread the alarm’’ after noticing a missing light from the Zakim Bridge.
State police arrested Charles Beckford Jr. Tuesday night in connection with a missing airplane warning light that was taken from the top of a Zakim Bridge tower, according to a statement from Massachusetts State Police. Because the tower is an important piece of infrastructure, and the lights prevent aircraft from running into it, the state’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was involved until state police determined Beckford Jr. stole the light just because he could.
Beckford Jr., 34, is believed to be homeless and living out of his car, according to state police. They believe he took the light on February 3 after breaking open the south tower’s locks and scaling a ladder up to the top. Police say he then climbed back down the ladder with the beacon, and drove away with it in his car.
According to police, Beckford Jr. recently left the light outside of the Warren Tavern in Charlestown. An employee, who didn’t know what it was, brought the light into the cellar, which is where police found it. Police say tavern employees were not complicit in the theft.
Police said this isn’t the first time Beckford Jr. has taken one of the bubble-style lights, which are approximately 3 feet tall and weigh at least 60 pounds. State police say he took another beacon during the bridge’s early construction phase in the early 2000s. Police say Beckford Jr. left it outside the office of The Bostonian Society, which operates the Old State House Museum in Boston. Both lights were recovered in the past 24 hours.
After he was arrested near a relative’s home in Melrose, Beckford Jr. was arraigned at the Boston Municpal Court. He was charged with breaking and entering, larceny from a building, receiving stolen property, malicious destruction of property over $250, commiting injury to a bridge, and defacement of property. He is being held without bail and was ordered to undergo a 20-day mental health evaluation at the Solomon Carter Fuller Center in Boston.
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