Police make another burglary arrest, at vacant Beatrice plant

BEATRICE – Beatrice Police have made another arrest of someone trying to steal things from inside the condemned, former Dempster Manufacturing Plant.
Chief of Police Bruce Lang says authorities got a report at about four p.m. Wednesday of a suspicious vehicle near the south part of the property.
"I overheard the radio traffic, so I headed there myself, and got there before uniformed officers arrived. I saw a white male walking from the building, carrying some items...and was able to detain him until the uniformed officers arrived, and he was arrested."
The suspect is identified as 39-year-old Sean Young, of Beatrice. There’ve been occasional problems keeping people out of the building, which is posted advising people to stay away.
"We've had some previous issues with people breaking into that building and scrapping out metals and so forth. One of the problems with that is it has a bunch of hazardous materials in there. It's secured to keep people out of there both for the fact we don't want people to steal things, but also for their own safety because there's some hazardous material in there the EPA is in the process of removing."
Previously, part of a chain-link fence at the southwest corner of the property had been cut away….and has been used as an entry point. The area is surrounded by overgrown trees and brush.
"When I first saw him, he was carrying a couple pieces of aluminum wire....big, heavy aluminum wire. That's what we saw him with, at the time."
Lang says Young was arrested for burglary and possession of burglar tools. The suspect also had an unrelated pending warrant for his arrest.
As for keeping people out of the building, Lang says that eventually will be solved, when the plant is demolished.