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VICTORVILLE – A large area of Victorville and Hesperia was left without power and a man who was attempting to steal wiring from a transformer sustained severe burn injuries on Tuesday.

Just after 2:40 a.m. deputies from the Victorville station and emergency medical personnel responded to the old Walmart location located at 15272 Bear Valley Road. A Southern California Edison (SCE) employee was investigating the power outage, which began at approximately 12:50 am.

The SCE employee, who was also the reporting party, told deputies that he received the notification of a transformer that was completely shut down in the area at around 1:00am. According to the news release, when he arrived at the location, he located Hester lying on the ground near the transformer. Authorities said that Hester was breathing, but appeared to be in severe pain with burns covering over half of his body.

Through investigation, it was learned that the suspect had broken into the transformer case attempting to steal wiring. He began to cut wires and was shocked, leading to the severe burns. Hester was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center for the treatment of major burn injuries and his condition at this time is unknown. The results of the investigation will be forwarded to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office for review and possible charges.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact the Victorville Police Department at (760) 241-2911. Callers wishing to remain anonymous are urged to call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78CRIME (27463) or you may leave information on the We-Tip website at www.wetip.com.