A law enforcement photo via a NWI Times story from 2015 shows the dismantled Monon Bridge.An Indiana man has been accused of illegally dismantling a historic railroad bridge in Hammond and selling the metal for $18,000, The Associated Press reports.
A photo provided to Bridgehunter.com by the Indiana State Department of Natural Resource, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology shows the bridge in its original state.Kenneth Morrison had asked the city to buy and dismantle the bridge in 1991, but was denied. He was denied a second time in September 2014, AP reports.
Between December 2014 and January 2015, he allegedly dismantled the Monon Bridge and sold the metal to scrap dealers.
The bridge was built in 1909, used by the former Hammond Meatpacking Co. plant and was one of only two bascule bridges in the region, AP reports.
Morrison had said he was saving the city money by dismantling the bridge. He has been indicted on a charge of interstate transportation of stolen property and released on $20,000 bond.
This is not Morrison’s first run-in with the law over scrap metal. The AP reports that in 1995 he was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay $50,000 after his attempt to dismantle a metal storage tank caused a 5,000-gallon waste-oil spill.
