Man and woman charged with stealing $80,000 in copper from “Old Terwilliger” school

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Randy George Naugle, 44, was arrested yesterday on multiple burglary and grand theft charges after he and Mary Elizabeth Arnold, 42, were reportedly caught driving a load of copper away from the old Terwilliger Elementary School.

On January 28, the manager of a metal recycling business contacted a Gainesville Police Department (GPD) detective to report that Naugle, Arnold, and another person had been bringing in an unusual amount of industrial copper; the manager said the amount was “substantially more than what is usual for any customer who is not employed with a demolition company.”

GPD’s crime analyst researched theft reports and found no reports of stolen copper that fit the description provided by the metal recycling company. However, on February 6, the foreman of a demolition company hired by Alachua County Public Schools to take down the abandoned school said a preliminary inspection found that all the copper had been removed from almost all the buildings, including every electrical panel, air conditioning unit, and wiring throughout the buildings.

The foreman reportedly contacted metal recycling companies, spoke to the same manager who had contacted GPD the previous week, and learned that the metals brought to that facility were exactly the kinds of materials missing from the school. The manager told him that Naugle and Arnold had even used a U-Haul to bring in large amounts of copper and typically received hundreds of dollars for each trip, with some loads netting over $1,000. The foreman estimated that his business has lost $80,000 in copper that they would have been able to sell under the terms of their contract.

GPD officers visited the demolition site and reportedly found piles of copper near holes in the fence, one on the northeast corner of the property and one on the north side. Officers conducted surveillance on the two piles, and about an hour into the surveillance, Naugle and Arnold reportedly walked up to the northeast hole, then Arnold walked into a nearby neighborhood while Naugle stayed with the copper.

Arnold reportedly returned a few minutes later, backing her car down a “hidden cement path” to the hole in the fence. The pair allegedly loaded copper into the trunk and cab of Arnold’s car, and officers conducted a traffic stop as they drove away.

Post Miranda, Arnold reportedly admitted that she and Naugle had just returned to the Terwilliger property to steal copper. She also reportedly admitted that she and Naugle had burglarized the demolition site 10 or 12 times, and each time, she used her ID to sell copper to the metal recycling business.

Post Miranda, Naugle reportedly admitted that he and Arnold had burglarized the demolition site 10 or 12 times, had stolen copper each time, and had sold it under his or Arnold’s name and ID.

Charges for additional co-defendants are reportedly pending.

Naugle has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud, two counts of burglary with property damage over $1,000, three counts of organized dealing in stolen property, one count of burglary, three counts of grand theft, and three counts of swearing falsely to ownership of secondary metals, all felonies. The address on his arrest report is in Broward County, but Naugle was convicted of driving without a valid license in Alachua County in May 2024; he has also served two state prison sentences out of Broward County, with his most recent release in 2019. Judge Phillip Pena set bail at $370,000.

Arnold will be charged via sworn complaint and has not been arrested, so her charges are not yet available.

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.