Clanton police officers literally followed a trail of clues to solve a copper theft from the city’s Water Treatment Plant.

Officers responded to a report of burglary and copper theft on Nov. 16. Plant workers found the building had been broken into and copper wire was missing from a new generator that is being installed.

While searching the area, detectives found a trail of wire scraps that had been dropped. As officers kept following what Police Chief Brian Stilwell called a “pig trail,” they found more copper, a screwdriver, a saw and other evidence from the crime scene.

The hunt continued less than a half of a mile, where plastic coding was being burned off the copper in a field.

“It was like a trail of breadcrumbs that led our detectives to where the copper was being burned,” Stilwell said.

John Michael Morgan and another male were questioned. Morgan was charged with burglary and criminal mischief and placed in the Chilton County Jail under a $35,000 bond. The other male was questioned and released.