A Somerset County man convicted of stealing electric utility wires with his wife was sentenced to serve three years in jail by an Accomack County judge.
Darek Snyder, 37, and his wife, Amanda Grover-Snyder, both of Westover, had both pleaded guilty to theft of copper wires from A&N electric company’s power lines in Accomack and Northampton counties between July and October last year.
The pair was caught in October last year and made full confessions to the police after their arrest.
Both admitted they were addicted to heroin and were selling the wire to make money to support their habits.
Snyder has a lengthy criminal history, mostly involving the theft of electrical wire, said Commonwealth’s Attorney Spencer Morgan.
On the witness stand at his April 11 sentencing, Snyder testified about the couple’s long history of drug abuse.
He said their two-year-long heroin habit “cost $40 or $50 a day” in the beginning, then escalated to $200 to $300 a day by the time they were arrested.
“I started young with weed, then cocaine and then painkillers after hurting myself on the job,” he told the court. He said they stole the wire to sell it for heroin.
Snyder said he and his wife have four children ages 18, 14, 11 and 9, who have been in the care of his mother since their arrest six months ago.
He told a story of overdosing on heroin in Richmond last summer. He said he blacked out and Narcan was used to save his life. When his wife picked him up, he said, they used heroin again.
“Both of us knew we had to stop,” he told the court. He said he knew he would either be arrested or dead. He asked to be allowed to attend the CCAP or community corrections alternative program for which he was found eligible.
He said Snyder had convictions for stealing metal in both Somerset County and Montgomery County in Maryland.
He asked that his client be given the opportunity to attend CCAP.
Amanda Grover-Snyder had only a DUI on her record and was sentenced to a year in jail and then to the 42 to 48 month CCAP program and ordered to pay $23,710.25, her share of the restitution, by the end of 2031. She has also received a similar sentence for the thefts in Northampton County.
Lewis ordered Snyder to spend three years in prison, with 21 years suspended, rather than to the CCAP program he requested.
“When you complete serving your time, you will be on probation and must be of good behavior for 10 years,” the judge said.
He also ordered Snyder to pay restitution in the amount of $23,710.25 by the end of 2031. He will be sentenced for the Northampton County wire thefts next month.