Police: $600K of Steel Stolen From West Pennsylvania Firm

State police have charged four former employees with stealing $599,000 worth of rolled stainless steel from a southwestern Pennsylvania duct work firm.

Troopers from the Uniontown barracks contends the workers, all former shop foremen or managers at Hranec Sheet Metal Inc. would load up the metal at night and sell it for scrap.

Police say they did that to the tune of $130,000 which they collected from a nearby metal salvage company in dozens of incidents between June 2009 and May 2011.

Online court records don’t list attorneys for the men: 25-year-old Timothy Smouse, of Greensburg; and 30-year-old Kenny Keener, 26-year-old Timothy Devince, and 33-year-old Robert Showman, all of Uniontown.

Police say Smouse and Keener were arraigned on theft charges Tuesday. Warrants have been issued for the other suspects.