Rumford – A Peru man accused by Cumberland County police of stealing more than $9,000 worth of copper and brass from his former employer remained jailed early Tuesday evening in Portland.

Ralph W. Whalen, 50, was charged Monday night by Cumberland County police with three counts of burglary and three counts of theft. He failed to post bail of either $5,000 cash or $10,000 real estate, and was taken to Cumberland County Jail in Portland.

Calls to Cumberland County detectives were not returned late Tuesday afternoon.

According to a news release issued Tuesday by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, Whalen, a former employee of Dielectric Communications Inc. of Raymond, was involved in a burglary and theft of $9,600 worth of copper and brass material from Dielectric’s plant on Tower Road in Raymond.

The release stated that Whalen said he was selling the stolen metals to scrap metal dealers throughout Maine and New Hampshire.

The market value for copper is $3.51 a pound.

Whalen was also summoned by Mexico police and charged with misdemeanor theft of copper.

Rumford Detective Daniel Garbarini got the investigation going after getting a tip about Whalen and copper and brass scrap metal stolen Monday from a Mexico plumbing business.

Garbarini said he was investigating last week’s complaint about the theft of as much as 800 pounds of copper and brass scrap metal from a Waldo Street resident’s garage sometime between April and June. Whalen didn’t admit to being involved in that theft, Garbarini said, but the Peru man did confess to taking the Mexico scrap metal without consent or permission.

“During the interview, he also admitted that he was involved in the Dielectric theft,” he said.

That’s when Garbarini contacted Mexico police and Cumberland County Lt. Don Foss.

Garbarini said Rumford police detained Whalen until Foss arrived to interview him about the Dielectric burglaries.

“It was a good effort all the way around,” Garbarini said of the investigations involving him, Cumberland County and Mexico police.

“… Scrap metal has become very popular, and, I don’t think enough information is being collected by salvage yards when people turn it in,” Garbarini said.

He wants to see salvage-yard owners and scrap metal recyclers recording driver’s license information, addresses and telephone numbers of people bringing in scrap metal, to better help police investigating metal thefts.