The data was the case. The case was the data. The architecture I had built in 2019 for my own peace of mind became in 2024 the evidentiary record that put Tamsin in Grants for 20 months. I noticed the discharge pattern first in October of 2023. The custom logging architecture had been flagging anomalous evening draws since the third week of September.
The flags had been small at first, a 15% increase in evening battery discharge between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on most weekday evenings. I had attributed the increase to a new attic ventilation fan Sigrid had installed in September. I had checked the fan specifications. The fan accounted for approximately 20% of the anomalous draw. The remaining 80% had no obvious source.
The discharge pattern was, by the careful inspection I performed across the second weekend of October, occurring on a roughly 48 amp average draw, consistent with the standard charging rate of a residential electric vehicle. The pattern was unmistakable. Someone was charging an electric vehicle off my system. I walked the property line at sunrise on the 17th of October. I traced the transfer switch outputs at the main service panel.
I tested every breaker. I tested every visible conduit. The system showed no obvious unauthorized connections at the visible inspection points, but the draw was real. I called Edith on the morning of the 18th. I told her in 20 minutes.
She listened. She said, in her measured Sandia engineer voice, "Dad, there is an unauthorized tap somewhere on your service architecture. The pattern you describe is consistent with a level two EV charging draw at approximately 48 amps. I want you to do three things. First, install a current clamp data logger on every output circuit at the inverter cabinet.
Second, do a thermal infrared survey of the underground conduits at the property line at night. Third, and this is important, call Marin at the New Mexico Public Service Commission Consumer Protection Office. She handled the Albuquerque solar theft case in 2022. She will know exactly what to look for." I installed the current clamp data loggers the following weekend.
I conducted the thermal infrared survey on a clear cold night on the 2nd of November, with help from Edith and Inga, who drove up from Albuquerque with a borrowed Sandia infrared imaging unit. By 11:00 p.m. on the 2nd of November, Edith had identified a clearly visible buried thermal anomaly running across the south property line on a straight line from the southwest corner of my service panel onto lot 12 of Sandia Vista Estates. The buried line was approximately 320 ft long. The line was running at a temperature differential consistent with active electrical load. The line was Wallace Bramble's unauthorized installation.
The installation, by Edith's quiet assessment was competent residential electrical work performed by someone who had not pulled a single municipal permit. Wallace had used 12-gauge copper Romex cable buried at the standard New Mexico electrical code depth of 24 inches with proper conduit at both the source and destination