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Report: Lowell Register admitted taking Creek's transmitter part

Lowell Register, 80, told a deputy that his lawyer advised him he could enter a radio station transmitter tower and take whatever he wanted, according to a Bibb County incident report.

Lowell Register, 80, told a deputy that his lawyer advised him he could enter a radio station transmitter tower and take whatever he wanted, according to a Bibb County incident report.

Creek 100.9 co-owner Brad Evans told the deputy that Register called him Saturday, told him he had a key piece of the Creek's transmitter, and wouldn't give it back.

The report describes how Register ended up in jail Sunday after a court fight over disputed property.

Register is head of Register Communications, which owned several local TV and radio stations.

According to federal bankruptcy court records, his company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors in November 2015.

Those court records list more than $8.3 million in debt.

Last year, Evans and his partners bought some of Register's property and equipment from a court-appointed receiver.

But Register claims the sale is illegal and that the Creek equipment still belongs to him.

On Friday and Saturday, according to Evans, the Macon-based station was knocked off the air for several hours due to a stolen piece of electronic equipment from its Perry transmitter.

The Bibb County incident report describes it as a "motherboard," valued at about $5,000.

Evans told the deputy that he didn't know who damaged the transmitter at first.

But, he said, "he received a phone call from Mr. Register, who stated that he had the 'mother board' and wouldn't return it to him. At that point, Mr. Evans called 911."

Register told the deputy that Evans had illegally purchased the station, according to the report.

He told the deputy that his lawyer said "he could go into his property and removed whatever he needed to remove and that Mr. Evans was lucky that he hadn't thrown everything out."

Register said he wouldn't return the mother board until Evans paid him $57,000, the report says.

After Saturday's discussion, the deputy wrote that he wasn't sure if the case was criminal or civil. He forwarded the case to the sheriff's property division.

But Register was arrested Sunday after Peach County deputies allegedly saw him trying to drill the locks at the transmitter.

He was charged with burglary. Register was released later Sunday on his own recognizance, according to the Peach sheriff's office.

On Sunday, Register told 13WMAZ that he had done nothing wrong, and referred further questions to his lawyer, Wes Boyer, who did not return our phone calls.

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