A Gaffney man who escaped from officers after being hemmed up in an industrial building has been arrested.

Wilburn Scott Teaster, 37, of 122 Sharon Drive was charged Monday by the Union County Sheriff’s Office with two counts of third-degree burglary, grand larceny and malicious injury to property.

Sheriff David Taylor said Teaster is accused of breaking into a warehouse building owned by BMC Manufacturing on 100 Industrial Park Road twice on July 22. Teaster left his mother’s car parked in a ball field near the warehouse. Taylor said Teaster fled from the building the second time he broke into it but was unable to leave in his car because Capt. Jeff Lawson had him blocked in.

Teaster’s mother brought him to the Union County Jail Monday and he surrendered to authorities.

Deputies initially were called to the warehouse early on July 22. A worker reported to Deputy Jeff Wright that large amounts of copper wire and leads have been taken from the building with a lot of equipment damaged. Damage to an air conditioning unit was valued at $7,000. Copper wire and parts taken from different parts of the building was valued at $3,000.

Deputies and investigators saw a place at the rear of the property where someone was entering the fence. The place in the fence was reached by driving to the back of the ballpark next to the building.

A few hours after officers left the warehouse, a motion alarm was detected. Officers returning saw a bucket of copper wire being pushed out of a partly open rolling shop door. Deputies were unable to see the person pushing the bucket, and when they arrived at the door he ran into the building.

Deputies, city officers and investigators set up a perimeter and searched the building several times but were unable to locate anyone.

Taylor said Teaster told officers fled out another door of the warehouse and ran across the road.

Taylor said investigators learned that Teaster sold the items he took Wednesday morning at a Spartanburg scrap yard and then returned to steal more.

“The value of what he took wasn’t as much as the damage of what it is going to cost to get it fixed,” Taylor said.

Indecent exposure

A man is accused of exposing himself at the Union County Carnegie Library.

Fredrick A. Jeter, 35, of 126 Perrin Ave. was charged Saturday with disorderly conduct and indecent exposure.

The incident occurred shortly before 1 p.m. at the library on 300 East South St. A 48-year-old library patron told Officer Angela Cogdill that she was browsing the aisles looking for something to read when she came around the corner near the computers an saw Jeter seated at the first computer exposed.

She quickly walked down the next aisle and glanced between the books to be sure of what she had seen. The woman then advised a librarian, who called police.

Jeter was still at the library when Cogdill arrived. He was arrested and issued a trespass notice for the library.