CLEARLAKE — A transient man was arrested Saturday on charges of second-degree burglary after he allegedly broke into a rePLANET machine and proceeded to re-recycle containers.
Steven Lloyd Lathan, 49, reportedly had six vouchers from the recycling machine, which totaled $71.35, Clearlake Police Department (CPD) Sgt. Nick Bennett said.
The time stamps on the vouchers ranged from 7:21 to 8:23 a.m., according to Bennett.
At approximately 7 a.m. Saturday, a witness reportedly saw Lathan breaking into the recycling machine, which is located near Foods Etc. at 15290 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake, Bennett said. One hour later, the witness saw Lathan shoveling recyclable containers out of the center and feeding them into the machine.
According to Bennett, Lathan fed 1,132 containers through the machine in approximately 49 minutes.
Lathan was booked at the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility. His bail is set at $15,000.
J. W. Burch, IV is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 900-2022 or at jburch@record-bee.com.
