Man booked for theft of marble from Federal Building

A Ruston man has been charged with simple burglary after he was allegedly caught on surveillance video taking pieces of marble from the historic Federal Building on North Vienna Street.

Patrick R. Hall, 43, was arrested Thursday by Ruston city police. Hall is also a local radio personality and DJ.

According to his arrest affidavit, Hall admitted to removing marble from the inside of the 115-yearold building, causing what the company pegged at $15,000 in damages.

Deputy Police Chief Chad Hamlin said Friday authorities have another person of interest in the incident who apparently Hall said helped him load the marble.

The Federal Building was purchased by a Monroe company last spring and is being renovated into a restaurant. The door the suspect entered was not secured at the time of the burglary, police said.

Authorities obtained video from a nearby business apparently showing Hall pulling into a parking place on the south side of the building shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday, and over the next hour or two entering the building and bringing out pieces of marble.

Hall reportedly told police he had read an article that led him to believe the marble was not going to be used and would be destroyed but said that he didn’t contact the construction company to verify that.

Hall was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on $25,000 bond.

In April, Monroe’s Oliver Road Investments bought the Federal Building from the city for $210,000. The building once housed the Ruston post office but had sat empty for about nine years after government offices formerly housed in the building relocated.