PRESTONSBURG, Ky. — Prestonsburg Police arrested a Johnson County man Friday, after they say he broke into the old Jerry’s Restaurant to harvest metal from it.

Police were called to the building just after 3:30 p.m., Friday, over a report of a suspicious person. When they arrived, they found a vehicle parked out back and Jeremy Lee Perry, 42, of Wittensville, coming out of the building.

Perry told police he hadn’t been in the building, but had just stopped because he had a flat tire. But police didn’t believe that story added up to the scene before them, where they saw multiple knives and bolt cutters outside, along with pieces of wire.

After Perry was detained, police found manual and power tools inside the building, including a grinder marked with the initials “JP.” There were also more tools inside Perry’s vehicle, many of which were marked with the same initials.

Police discovered that wiring had been stripped from two of the building’s breaker boxes and the building’s sprinkler system had also been cut out and removed.

Perry was arrested and charged with burglary, theft, possession of burglar’s tools and criminal mischief.