Porterville man gets six months in copper wire sting

A man arrested in a cop­per wire sting was sen­tenced Wednes­day to 181 days in the Tulare County jail. Jose Bal­tazar, 46, of Porter­ville, who worked at a recy­cling cen­ter, pleaded no con­test Wednes­day to a felony count of receiv­ing stolen prop­erty with­out due dili­gence and one mis­de­meanor count of not keep­ing proper records at a recy­cling cen­ter. Bal­tazar was caught in the Sep­tem­ber sting oper­a­tion when under­cover offi­cers brought in cop­per wire with South­ern Cal­i­for­nia Edi­son mark­ings and told Bal­tazar it had been stolen, author­i­ties said. Judge James Holl­man also ordered him to pay a $500 fine and be placed on three years probation.