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State Police say a Quarryville man found dead on an abandoned Lancaster County rail line was electrocuted while trying to cut down high-voltage wires, presumably to steal the wire and sell the copper in it as scrap metal.
The man was identified as 22-year-old Brandon Klein. His burned body was found Monday on the abandoned railroad bed about 300 yards south of Valley Road in Eden Township.
Police said Klein climbed to the top of one of the power line towers and was attempting to cut one of the wires, not realizing they were carrying electricity. He was electrocuted and fell approximately 40 to 50 feet to the ground.
The wire was charged with more than 100,000 volts of electricity, police said.
Such thefts have increased as the price of scrap copper has quadrupled in recent years. And even though trains haven't run on the line for years, its catenary lines still help power trains on part of Amtrak's East Coast corridor.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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