Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Roddez Leron Coar, 24, has now been charged with additional counts of burglary, theft, dealing in stolen property, and using a fraudulent ID to recycle metals after a scrap metal recycling company called the police to report their purchase of rare copper gutters after reading about the thefts in the Alachua Chronicle.

Coar was arrested on March 8 and charged with stealing and selling hundreds of pounds of rare copper gutters that had been removed during a renovation of First United Methodist Church of Gainesville and stored in a fenced area until the roofer could take them and sell them, with proceeds intended for the church. Joseph Hayes Rawls, 48, was arrested on similar charges on March 18 as a co-defendant in the case.

Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers were initially tipped off by an employee at TMR Recycling after a church trustee called TMR and asked the business to watch for the copper gutters. The employee told GPD that Coar had already brought in some of the gutters.

After the article about Coar’s arrest appeared in Alachua Chronicle, an employee of CMC Recycling called GPD and said Coar had also brought copper gutters to CMC, setting off “red flags” at the business because of how rare the materials are.

According to the CMC employee, Coar brought 202 pounds of copper gutters to CMC on February 22 (the first date that the church noticed some of the materials had been stolen) and tried to sell them. Because Coar’s ID was cut and missing a corner, the business refused his ID. A second man who has not yet been arrested reportedly used his ID and thumbprint to sell the copper to CMC. Coar and the second man reportedly received $365.62 for the copper.

A CMC employee told a GPD officer that the gutters set off red flags at the business because “you NEVER see this stuff”; the consensus among employees was that the copper was likely stolen.

Coar has three felony convictions (two violent) and has served two state prison sentences, with his most recent release in December 2021. A sworn complaint was filed against him on February 6 for having a stolen license plate on his truck, but he reportedly said the truck belonged to his father and he didn’t know anything about the tag being stolen, and the charge was later dropped.

Judge Lorelie Brannan set bail on the initial charges at $90,000, and today Judge Mark Moseley added $6,500 bail on the new charges.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.