Gary James Story steals 373kg copper wire from Anglo American Central QLD sites

A mine truck driver with a meth habit decided to steal copper wire from old work sites to pay for his addiction, causing about half a million in damages.

Anglo American's Dawson Coal Mine on the outskirts of Moura. Photo: Kerri-Anne Mesner

A mine truck driver with a meth habit decided to steal copper wire from old work sites to pay for his addiction, causing about $500,000 in damages, a court heard.

Gary James Story, 33, had previously worked at the sites he targeted during his crime spree which started in February, 2023, stealing copper wire from Anglo American mines and coal dump sites in Central Queensland, along with firearms and ammunition from gun safes and cars from other locations across the region, Rockhampton District Court heard on October 17.

His spree came to an end with a siege at Sarina in November, 2023.

By the end Story had racked up 32 offences, selling 373kg of stolen copper wire for a measly $3202.50 while causing in excess of $498,500 in damages to mining company Anglo American after breaking into multiple Central Queensland sites and using power tools to access copper cabling.

Gary James Story stole 373kg of copper.

He committed some offences while on bail.

Judge Jeff Clarke said Story was captured on CCTV in the early hours of February 13, 2023, breaking into a large industrial shed at Alton Downs and stole $500 cash from an office.

Story stole copper cabling, which was cased in yellow and green coloured insulation, from the Anglo American’s Dawson coal processing mine at Kianga near Moura multiple times in March and April, 2023.

“That particular offence caused a cost to the mine of $58,500 in cable works and almost $150,000 in loss of production,” Judge Clarke said.

Story went into a warehouse at Banana, also belonging to Anglo American, sometime between April 14 and 17, and stole 455m of copper cabling.

Later, he cut a chain and padlock to access the mine on April 18, and then used a grinder to cut a length of copper cabling which ran underneath the substation and that damaged the copper electrical cabling.

Story stole about 200m of copper cabling from the substation and 325m from a large spool and other spools were taken from the warehouse.

Story cut the padlock and chain on a gate to a coal dump station on May 25 where he and an unidentified female co-offender removed the metal covers of the dump station and the inference implements to cut copper cabling which provided power to the machinery.

Judge Clarke said the total repair cost to the dump station in the May incident was in excess of $290,000.

Story was intercepted driving his Ford Territory at Dululu, towing a trailer, on May 26, with “numerous lengths of copper cabling in the trailer” which Story claimed he had taken from the Wowan Hotel as he cleaned it and planned to take it to the Mount Morgan dump to sell.

Judge Clarke said police searched his residence the next day and found receipts from Rockhampton Metal Recyclers for various amounts of copper on different dates, totalling 373kg copper for $3202.50, far less than what the copper cost the mining company.

Police also located copper cabling at Story’s residence, along with green and yellow insulation removed from the cabling he had stolen from the mine, wire cutters, bulk cutters, tin snips and grinders used in the offending as seen in CCTV footage.

They also located digital scales with meth residue, one gram of marijuana, another bag of marijuana mixed with tobacco weighing 1g and cash.

Story was caught on another occasion possessing 1g of meth, 10g marijuana, used meth pipes, scales, valium, grinder, scissors, cone pieces, straws and water pipes.

Later in the year, Story stole six firearms and boxes of ammunition from an unlocked gun safe in a residence in Strathfield near Nebo.

Two of the firearms were located by police five days later in a stolen Mining Equipment Maintenance Toyota HiLux in Berserker.

Story stole a quad bike from a shipping container on a property at Milman in November, and used a jimmy bar to pry open a gun safe and stole three firearms and a box of ammunition.

A few days later, he stole a Toyota LandCruiser from a Yaamba rural property, only to abandon it on Middle Creek Road, Sarina a few hours later and make his way to a nearby house, which he ransacked.

His ransacking was interrupted as the occupants returned and he locked himself in a bathroom.

When police attended, he tried to flee via a balcony, climbed onto the rail of the balcony and threatened to self harm with a knife.

After negotiations, Story was arrested and taken into custody.

“Your offending has caused very high financial loss to the complainants,” Judge Clarke said.

Gary James Story’s lawyer said his meth use stemmed from an accident in his past.

Defence barrister Jordan Ahlstrand said his client, a father of two, who had worked as a labourer and truck driver at mines, had some psychological issues stemming from being the first person at a fatal accident where two utes collided with a train and both ute drivers died while the train driver had a leg amputated.

He said the “knock on” from that was Story, who grew up in Wowan, was using meth.

Mr Ahlstrand said the Mount Morgan State High School Year 10 graduate had never spent time in prison prior to this and his client instructed he has “learnt a valuable lesson from this” time in custody.

Story pleaded guilty to:

• two counts of breaking and entering premises and stealing;
• three counts of stealing
• one count of enter premises and stealing
• four counts of wilful damage
• one count of possessing things used in connection with the unlawful entry with the circumstance of aggravation
• four counts of possessing drugs
• two counts of burglary and stealing
• three counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle
• one count of burglary
• one offence to buy or possess s4 or s8 medicine or hazardous poison
• two counts of possessing drug utensils
• two counts of possessing property suspected of having been used in connection with a drug offence
• three counts of trespass
• one count of unlawful possession of suspected stolen property
• one count of obstruct police
• and one count of possessing used drug pipes.

Judge Clarke sentenced Story to four years prison, declared 331 days presentence custody as time served and set parole release for March 21, 2025.

Originally published as Gary James Story steals 373kg copper wire from Anglo American Central QLD sites