Not a bright idea. Cops say man stole hundreds of solar-panel batteries from bus stops

Miami-Dade police detectives say they’ve solved the mystery of solar-panel batteries vanishing from bus shelters across the county.

The culprit, police say, was a South Miami man, Nikolas Velikopoljski, who admitted to stealing more than 200 batteries from shelters, then reselling them to a used-battery store. The value of the batteries was over $50,000, according to an arrest report.

The scheme came to light when Outdoor Media, the company that runs the advertising on the bus-stop shelters in Miami-Dade, conducted an audit that revealed the missing batteries. The 226 batteries went missing between March and July.

By chance, an off-duty Miami-Dade police officer noticed a “suspicious individual” at a bus-stop shelter.

Police later identified the truck at the shelter as one being driven by Velikopoljski, 24. Detectives from Miami-Dade’s Hammocks District stopped Velikopoljski, who confessed, police said.

Velikopoljski is listed as a supervisor with Sorrell Development, a Medley trucking company. He’s being charged with grand-theft and organized scheme to defraud, Detective Alejandro Vasquez Jr. wrote in an arrest report.

Velikopoljski, who was arrested on Monday, has already pleaded not guilty. His defense lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 2:51 PM.