Building sites leave copper thieves well-connected
Construction boom makes the Inland Empire more vulnerable to efforts by desperate crooks -- authorities say they're meth users -- stripping wire from phone cables, windmills and even hospitals and such
By David Kelly Times Staff Writer
March 14, 2007
Fueled by methamphetamine and working like termites, they have blacked out entire neighborhoods, stripped building sites and reduced telephone poles to splintered wood.
Whether at a school, business or hospital, the thieves' quarry is always the same: copper.
Over the last few months, copper-wire thefts have skyrocketed statewide and across the nation. Although copper has long been a target of those desperate for quick cash, the price of the metal which has climbed as high as $4 a pound and plentiful construction sites in growth areas such as the Inland Empire are driving the current crime wave. As of Tuesday, copper was selling at about $2.82 a pound.
"In two months' time, we lost $25,000 worth of wire from the land we own in Fontana," said Michael Mendonca, who runs a recycling center. "We had people coming in every night ripping out wire. I would put chains on the gate, and they would cut through them. They didn't care what damage they caused; they just wanted enough for their next fix."
Thieves have shown remarkable tenacity digging up buried phone cables, stripping power-generating windmills of wire and making off with 1,000-pound spools of copper.
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