(La Porte County, IN) - Charges have been filed in La Porte County for stealing over a thousand pounds of metal and selling it as scrap.

40-year-old Donald Helms allegedly broke into TT Machining and Fabricating in Michigan City in December last year.

Authorities say he took over four thousand dollars in raw metal from the facility. The metal was sold at Paul’s Auto Yard in Westville. Helms allegedly sold the metal he carried in buckets on four separate occasions.

According to court documents, the La Porte man told investigators he did it because he’s homeless, eating out of trash cans, and on meth.