Copper and scrap metal thieves here in Southwest Ohio have been having a field day for about 2 years now. Breaking into homes and stripping copper water lines as well as the homes electrical wiring even stealing AC units and heat pumps.

On the street they are taking manhole covers and storm drain covers as well as pilfering commercial buildings and utility companies of their cooling units and electrical services.
Here a couple links to the local news service concerning same:

Burglar Causes $100,000 Damage To Restaurant - :: Cincinnati news story :: LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati

Crooks Steal Sewer Motors - :: Cincinnati news story :: LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati

Are things the same in your area?

Note: I should clarify, that it has always been an issue but it seems now it is an epidemic.

Yes, but it's been going on a lot longer than 2 years.

Somewhat, but the store owner who blew the chest out of one with a shotgun and held the rest of the copper gang for the cops slowed things down here considerably.
They were all illegal aliens.

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Science plus Art

There is a lot of that around here also. They found one guy fried on the main power lines, really stupid.
My question is - just how much money can you get from ripping the electric wiring out of a house? It cannot be much.
The same way with the plumbing, how much could you possibly get?
There have been several A/C units stolen, again, how much could you possibly get?
Just seems like really a stupid thing to do.

Earlier this year, my cousin in Chicago had to put her mother in a nursing home because of Alzheimers.

She's been cleaning out the house with the help of other family members so that it can be sold. When nobody's cleaning it out, it's empty. While nobody was there, thieves broke in to steal the copper pipes... except there weren't any. They tore out the walls looking for something that wasn't there, doing hundreds of dollars worth of damage.

That was the Bronx 40 years ago, the rest of the country is finally catching up.

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Sure you did

Number 1 copper price today at scrap yard in Springfield, Missouri is $ 3.15 per pound.

You have to show drivers license, pose for a picture next to the scales with whatever you are selling, and supply a thumbprint.

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Life Member NRA Since 1985

Give them some lead for free, copper jacketed even.

.I like the way you think!LMAO.

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WALSTIB

Not possible in Chicago, at least on the THREE occasions this year when somebody broke into my aunt's house. In one of them, my cousin was coming in the front door when they were going out the back. The governor of Illinois, the Illinois legislature, the Chicago mayor, city council and police would rather that my cousin be robbed raped and murdered than defend herself effectively.

Picture ID here cut out the riff-raff and illegals. Plus there's a three day waiting period before their check is mailed to them. No more cash and carry. It still surprises me some are still stealing and showing their ID. It's slowed down a lot compared to what it was. Before it was not unusual for someone to wake up in the middle of the night because they got hot and go outside and find the copper cut off their AC unit.

Down here they sniff your freon.

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Dum vivo cano

That reminds me of a trip I made to Peru back in the 70's first time I had ever heard of manhole covers being stolen, it was common practice there, rough on a rim if you drive into one!
I guess they brought the custom with them when they snuck across the border.
There was a lot of that going on in New Orleans after Katrina but mostly in the houses had been flooded.
Steve W.

Not much of a problem 'round here since us rednecks don't have indoor plumbing, 'lectric lights and all them other highfalutin' thingamajigs.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

I threw out a rusted lawn chair about an hour ago. It lasted roughly 15 mins.. I am home now most of the time. My little dogs alert me to any unusual stuff in the yard. I've established an understanding with the scrappers around here. Anything outside the fence is fair game. Venture into the yard at your own risk. I'm too old to put up with much **** anymore.

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SOS USA

They're also hitting the cemeteries, stealing metal (vet) markers and vases - anything metal. May they all rot in hell.

I read at least one story a month about some copper thief removing themselves from the gene pool by pulling a live wire. Karma's a mean mistress.

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"... shall not be infringed."

Along with the wiring, plumbing, cemetery urns and other things mentioned, they are taking the aluminum siding off of houses too. The old closed down steel mills are a haven with all the old copper and brass, not to mention steel laying around.

A few years ago a couple of guys stole the all the copper and brass tubing from a hotel that was being built. They got a whole trailer full then decided that it was to big to drive to Wichita to sell so they tried to cut it up into smaller pieces. Not a bad plan but they cut it up at about 4 in the morning and the neighbors were not to happy.

It was a huge problem a couple of years ago in the Detroit area, not only were they stripping homes the even climbed on the roof of a church and cut up the AC condensor, TWICE. However, the scrap dealers now must firmly identify anyone turning in any scrap metal and take pics of those selling scrap, the scrap, and record any license numbers. We had some hit my employer for about 5K in scrap aluminum and the PD had them in custody in less than a day, now that pair are serving 5 years in the State Prison. That has had a very noticeable effect and the thieves have moved onto new crimes or they've been locked up.

They've come close. Here at Sea-Tac airport, these jerks are climbing up the 50-100 ft towers that support the light lanes (ALS) at the runway approaches, to cut & remove the copper grounding down-conductors. These things operate at 2400 volts -- if they would only cut just a little higher...

Down the side road and around the bend, there's a house in foreclosure. I always thought it was a cute little place, with a nice deck. Well, they stopped making payments on it long ago. So early this year it went up for foreclosure. On the 3rd of July a lady we'll call Sylvia (because its her name) was out on the back deck of her house. Its on the main drag, but because of the way the road turns, it backs right on the foreclosed home.

Now the couple living in the house were squatters. After looking closely at her, I thought she'd be presentable if someone gave her a bath and sheep dip. The greaseball guy was just dirt. They got around on foot. And yes, we had a fair amount of vandalism and thefts in the neighborhood. He had buddies that impressed me as being trash, too.

Well, on July 3rd, Sylvia was sitting out back and heard some noises. It was the guy stripping the aluminum siding off the house he was living in. So Sylvia did the upstanding thing, she called the cops but was a bit unsure of herself. The nice officer took a break from chasing kids with firecrackers and stopped for a talk. The guy had ID, and it was the same last name as the owner of record. The cop left. That afternoon, just about 4:00 the guy and the girl were heading down the road toward town (had to make it to the scrap dealer before they closed.) Beer money for the 4th you know.

Turns out the guy let his brother stay at the house until they kicked him out. The brother had already stolen all the copper (pipes and wires.) So the owner stopped to see what was going on and got just a bit upset. They made the brother leave. And mysteriously, all the neighborhood thefts stopped (including the 2 break ins at my house under construction.) Funny how that is.

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Dick Burg

They just arrested three guys who were stealing the copper from the AC units of rural churches in several counties near Springfield.

They're still stripping empty houses for plumbing, wiring and siding around Detroit all the time. I read about it every week in the crime blotter in the local paper. Apparently, these crooks are still able to fence the stuff somehow, even with the photo/ID requirements most scrap yards have implemented.

We had a major problem with metal thieves here for years until a couple years back.

The area passed a law that those buying metals had to show what they bought, from who and for how much to their local police department. The scrap metal dealers fill out the paperwork just as would a pawnshop and submit it to the police.

Since then, theft of metals has dropped to almost nothing. When it does happen, the sellers are usually caught. One man was working for the City and got several hundreds of dollars for copper tubing he took from a City truck. But he was smart and drove about 100 miles to get rid of it. After his arrest, he learned the law was not just for the City.

Yea, its pretty bad. Seems like a few times a month someone gets electrocuted stealing copper. I've seen them cut down 300 feet of like right along the side of a main highway. They work so hard at it, you'd think they'd just get a real job...

Last year three criminals tried to steal a copper service from a shut down industrial building. Unfortunatly the crook cut into a half million volts and got fried. He was still alive and his two friends drove him across the state line to a hospital. I guess hoping to elude questioning about what happened. Last I heard he was still alive , but will never make a full recovery.

my next door neighbor works for a contractor who has a tidy business going in to foreclosed homes for banks and fixing them to salable status after they are empty, thieves go in and tear out the copper pipes, wires and even entire kitchen and bath counter and cabinet sets. pulling wires out of walls damges the driwall good 10s of thousands in damage for a few hundred bux of material. seems to be prevalent in the more urban housing tracts in richmond, vallejo, etc. where lots of tract homes were built in the last few years and then the market collapsed and the people just walked.

also hearing stories of aluminim highway guardrails being swiped. how somebody swipes a 20-30 or longer foot piece i dont know. maybe gets a sawzall and cuts it into piece on teh roadside.

with the price of gold way up surprised not hearing more stories of necklaces being ripped off womens necks.

For years I collected copper. I had all kinds of wires and pipes. And I had some brass, too.. It was more of a joke than anything else, but it held down the slab in one corner of the garage. Then one day I decided to sell it. I got $597 for it.

And I still have some pipe. I'd bought 2 sticks of each 1/2 and 3/4 in case I needed a repair. Then at a flea market I managed to pick up about 10# of fittings for $10. And at work they were tossing out a 6' chunk of 3 1/2" pipe. Now my little stockpile is growing again. When our maintenance man heard I had the 3 1/2" pipe, he gave me two end caps. They weigh a couple of pounds each (and are probably worth $100 for the pair.)

Some day I'll give it away or sell it.

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Dick Burg

Not as many jobs, for the untrained dirt bag, as there once was, so they gotta steal.
It's really kinda sad in one way, but highly frustrating on the other hand.

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Always Stay Strong!

I work for a cellular company and this is a major problem. It seems to come in spurts. The local churches have problems with A/C unit being destroyed by copper thefts. Next county over in Spartanburg the state convicted some copper thefts with a pretty strong sentence. But the best part is the EPA is going to charge them with releasing florocarbons into the air. If they follow though that will really burn their asses.

Here, metal thieves usually attack construction sites and abandoned warehouses, etc. Raiding an inhabited dwelling is a big risk here, even if you stay outside.