Man Charged With Stealing Bridge Beacon To Undergo Added Evaluation

BOSTON (AP) — A homeless man authorities allege stole an aircraft warning beacon from atop Boston's distinctive Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge last month has been ordered to undergo further mental health evaluation.

Clifford Beckford Jr. appeared Monday in Boston Municipal Court for a bail hearing. He has been held for evaluation since his arraignment March 4. He returns to court May 14.

Police allege that in early February, the 34-year-old Beckford broke through a locked door, climbed a ladder to the top of one of the bridge's 275-foot towers, and stole the 3-foot tall, 60-pound red light.

The light was recovered from the basement of a Charlestown bar. A bar manager says an employee found it outside in the snow.

Beckford is charged with breaking and entering and other offenses.