O'FALLON, Mo. (KSDK) - A man has been arrested and charged for allegedly stealing copper from vacant homes.

Joshua Middleton, 23, has been charged with 27 counts of second-degree burglary and one count of theft/stealing over $500.

O'Fallon police were called January 12 after a citizen saw a man looking into the windows of a home in the 300 block of Copper Tree Court. The man was then seen leaving the area in a truck.

Officers tracked the truck down and questioned the man, identified as Middleton.

Police say Middleton admitted to burglarizing vacant foreclosed homes in O'Fallon and surrounding areas.

Middleton is held on a $50,000 bond.

KSDK