Sunday, July 30, 2006

Copper Thefts Add to Recent String (SB SUN 07112006) Rancho Cucamonga. Copper theves Struck again...


I know that with all the construction that has been going on that there is more then likely more thefts, and that is going to be because there are hire prices being paid for Copper, The Copper tubing and Copper pipe is the number one thing that is used in houses now to deleiver the water, it is the longest lasting and best product, but it is also the most expensive.

I hope the Security guards are up and alert to catch the suspects in the act when they start to try to steal the copper pipe from the job site they are protecting.

BSRanch..

Copper thefts add to recent string
Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Joanna Parsons and Nikki Cobb, Staff Writers

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Copper thieves struck once again early Monday morning, stealing wire from two sites in what appear to be the latest in a series of copper-wire heists in the Inland Empire and the High Desert.

Thieves took 40 to 50 feet of copper wire owned by Verizon Communications on Sixth Street and Hellman Avenue wire the company replaced after a July 4 heist involving two sections of copper wire.

"Can you believe that how brazen they are?" said Jon Davies, Verizon spokesman.

On Monday, a compost business near Etiwanda Avenue on Sixth Street was also robbed. The thieves made off with 1,000 feet of copper wire after breaking padlocks to get onto the property, said Sgt. John Nuss of the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department.

Copper cable provides customers with telephone and high-speed Internet service with DSL, Davies said.

Verizon officials first noticed something wrong on their network around 12:45 a.m. A supervisor drove out to the site and found wire cut from a pole. Employees are installing the cable underground in the area, so some of the wire was exposed, Davies said.

Police were notified around 8:30 a.m. of the robbery at the compost business, where robbers made off with wire from an industrial spool, Nuss said.

Verizon restored service to customers several hours after the incident. Although the company has lost nearly $700,000 in stolen cable and other property on the West Coast since 2004, the major concern is how such losses disrupt services, Davies said.

Monday's theft of Verizon's copper wire is valued at several thousand dollars, Davies said. The wire stolen from the compost business at Sixth and Etiwanda is valued at $5,000 to $7,000, Nuss said.

Davies said Verizon officials are considering installing alarms on the cable to notify them when it's being stolen. They are also looking into hiring a security guard until employees finish construction at the Sixth and Hellman site.

Copper-wire theft has been on the rise. Riverside County sheriff's deputies arrested two Riverside men on suspicion of stealing about $30,000 worth of phone lines in Rubidoux on June 30. About 150 copper-wire thefts have been reported since January in San Bernardino County, sheriff's officials said.

AT&T and Verizon Communications have posted $10,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in recent copper thefts.

The cost of copper per pound is up more than five times what it was in 2001 and is about $3.60, according to metal retailers.

San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies have conducted stings at numerous recycling yards including Alamo and Bloomington Recycling, both in unincorporated areas near Fontana. The stings have resulted in arrests and the seizure of stolen copper.

The recent increase in copper thefts has prompted deputies to plan future stings at the scrap-metal plants.

Investigators blame a considerable portion of copper thefts on methamphetamine users.

"The price of it it's almost as good as gold right now for the tweakers," San Bernardino County sheriff's Detective Maggie Finneran said. "They spend all night pulling the insulation off the copper wire and then they're good to go with enough methamphetamine for a week."

Deputies caught two men dumping insulation from copper wire near the corner of Alder and Jurupa avenues in April, she said.

The men had stolen the wire from utility vehicles and trailers near Union Pacific Railroad yards on the border of the cities of Colton and Rialto. They stripped the wire and then recycled it at a Bloomington scrap yard.

One of the men, Jeff Shaw, of Fontana was arrested by deputies while he was free on bail. Deputies found him in possession of more stolen copper, and he is suspected of operating a chop shop out of a home, Finneran said.

Boxes and boxes of receipts from Fontana recycling yards are examined by deputies at the Fontana station daily for any hauls worth more than a couple hundred dollars.

Pacific Coast Recycling is working on a computer database that deputies will be able to access from their station.

But the crime remains a challenge for deputies to investigate, primarily due to certain scrap yards turning a blind eye to stolen goods.

"It's easier to find the crooks that go with the stolen copper wire than finding the victims themselves," Finneran said.

Theft of copper wire has also risen sharply in the High Desert. San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Karen Hunt said the department fields calls several times a month from building contractors or others to report losses of scrap metal on their sites.

"It's a crime of opportunity at this particular time," Hunt said. "A lot of the new construction sites are getting hit really hard.

"And we have a huge amount of construction sites."

Hunt said new residential buildings are being targeted, most likely because there are so many of them. But that doesn't mean commercial-construction sites aren't seeing their share of copper thieves.

On June 7, deputies from the sheriff's Victorville station found a suspicious vehicle in the desert. Inside, they found a large amount of high-voltage copper wire that matched a description of that stolen from a construction site hours before.

The value of the copper wire taken was about $1,500. Ariel Jackson Reese, 27, was taken into custody after admitting to the theft. Reese was arrested and booked at the Victor Valley jail, bail was set at $50,000.

Saturday and Sunday brought more thefts, resulting in the jailing of six people on suspicion of stealing copper wire from the Southern California Logistics Airport, formerly George Air Force Base, in Victorville.

On Saturday, while on a routine patrol, a deputy saw two men loading copper wire into a Chevrolet Suburban at the airport. The deputy arrested Rafael Preciado, 34, Jaime Muniz, 28, and Noemi Perez, 20.

The next day, the deputy returned to the airport and discovered three more suspects stealing copper. Casmiro Robles, 37, Jorge Medina, 32, and Beltran Molina, 40, were all booked into the Victor Valley jail on suspicion of grand theft.

Hunt said patrols haven't been stepped up in response to the increase in thefts. Deputies are too busy running call-to-call, she said, to act as sentries. But they have been asked to look for copper thieves as they go about their duties, she said.

"We cover such a vast area, it's really just a matter of being in the right place at the right time," Hunt said. "If time permits, they're to make an extra effort (to look for copper thieves), even if they're just driving through on another call."

Anyone with information about recent copper thefts may call a local law-enforcement agency, the Verizon Security Control Center, (800) 997-3287, or AT&T at (213) 633-2558 or (213) 633-2405.

Thievery

Nationwide, air conditioning units, electrical substations, roofs and even graves have been the targets of copper thieves.

  • In May, a 21-year-old Virginia man was electrocuted and killed while attempting to steal copper cables from power lines, according to Gannett News Service.

  • Thieves stole 80, 13-pound flower vases made of 87 percent copper, from graves in two cemeteries in April and May in Sumter, S.C., according to Gannett.

  • Pearl Harbor Naval Base in April reported $150,000 worth of copper cables stolen, according to the Honolulu Advertiser.

  • Media reports have popped up about churches' air conditioners being broken into for the copper cylinders inside. But one church in England had its copper roof taken in April, according to BBC News.

  • A homeless man was arrested for starting a devastating fire in New York City that destroyed a waterfront complex in May after admitting he was stealing copper wire, according to WNBC in New York. Scavengers usually start fires to clean off the copper, investigators said.
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