Pelham police arrested four people who they allege were involved in the theft of roughly 5,000 pounds of copper wiring. The copper, had it been sold at a local salvage yard, could have yielded roughly $15,000 to the thieves.

Two patrolmen, Michael Marshall and Ryan Sambataro, were called to Car Tunes, a car audio store on Route 38 in Pelham, around 1 a.m. on Sept. 8. A neighbor had reported that the store’s rear garage door was open and people were entering the business.

Police said that when the officers arrived, two men were unloading spools of copper wiring into the store from a Thiro utility repair bucket truck.

One of them, Brian McInerney, 23, was a Thiro employee, and the other man, Obdulio Garcia, 23, was a Car Tunes employee, police said.

Thiro is a repair contractor for National Grid electric utility company.

According to police, McInerney told the officers he was dropping off the wire for a job in Pelham the following morning.

But several factors, police said, made the patrolmen suspicious: the pair appeared nervous, the late hour, the number of copper wire reels – 65 in all – and a recent rash of copper thefts in the region.

McInerney had Marshall speak with his foreman, Lawrence Gilligan, who told Marshall the truck and copper were authorized to be in Pelham, said police. McInerney’s explanation was also backed up by his brother, Michael, another Thiro employee, over the telephone, police said.

But the officers were doubtful of what they were being told and seized the copper pending further investigation.

With assistance from National Grid’s security, police learned that the copper had been stolen from a National Grid yard in Burrillville, R.I.

Police said they also determined that Brian McInerney was not authorized to be using the repair truck during the time of the incident, and that he had disabled its GPS system and taped over markings to prevent it from being identified.

Interviews determined the theft had been planned for six weeks, police said.

Brian McInerney, a Nashua resident, and Garcia, who lives in Milford, each face a charge of receiving stolen property.

Michael McInerney, 31, of North Kingstown, R.I., and Gilligan, 47, of Reading, Mass., each face a charge of hindering apprehension or detection.

Each man has been released on $25,000 personal recognizance and will be arraigned in Salem District Court on Nov. 13.

Police in Burrillville, R.I., are also expected to file charges.