Posted on 08/12/2011 10:42:23 AM PDT by golux
Transient meth-head Kirk Wise probably made more money than you did last year -- and he didn't even have a job.
Wise, 45, is a professional copper thief who steals copper wire to support his $100-a-day meth habit. He's pretty good at it, too -- according to Wise, he's netted nearly $100,000 since January of 2010 by selling the copper to scrap-metal recycling businesses throughout the east Valley.
(...)
He admitted to everything -- he said he stole copper to support his meth habit and he'd netted $95,000 since last January. He told police he'd been stealing copper for three to four years, and has remained transient to make it harder for police to find him.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com ...
Am I wrong in thinking that scarp metal centers should be suspicious, and accountable, when transient drug addicts bring in $95,000 in copper?
not sure if this is accurate, I mean sure meth heads are known for clear, thoughtful, honest answers but I just don’t know about the $$ claim
This A**hole better hope they put him in jail where he will be safe. That $100,000 in stolen raw copper equates into more like $5 million or more in economic damage and in repair costs for air conditioners, electrical transformers, wiring that gets stolen
These jerks are stealing $10,000 replacement cost air conditioners to sell $100 worth of scrap copper.
There are a lot of Phoenix home owners who have had to take a $10K hit for replacing their air conditioner in a bad economy who would love to get their hands on this guy.
This guy needs to go to jail for a long time
How do they know he’s a transient drug addict. Most of these recycling operations are cash based with very little paperwork. You bring in sort piles of stuff, they do a little work to make sure it is what you say it is, weigh it, give you money and a receipt. On some level they probably know that anybody showing up very often is probably not getting their stuff legally, but the reason recycling these metals is profitable is there’s a supply gap, they need what this guy’s got and they can’t “prove” it’s illegal, and more importantly nobody can prove they knew.
Shoot the damn bastard!
"You'll never take me alive, Copper!"
Good one!.....
It depends whether this case is an outlier, or if 90% of the people being in copper wire have stolen it. If the latter is true, which is what I’d guess, then these recycle centers are complicit in the crime, and basically are fencing stolen goods.
Not to diminish this guy’s crime but it sounds like he was bringing a huge amount of copper into the same recycling centers and they all were in the same area. And I’m sure the operators get suspicious if they see something that looks like copper pipe ripped out of a house on a regular basis, especially being brought in by a guy who looks like this. I bet they simply turned a blind eye.
And sadly this is not unusual. It happens over and over all over the country. And it isn’t just drug addicts doing it. There as a professional ring in my area doing it. That is what is really scary. Not just some drug addict out looking for an easy target but professionals who know what they are doing.
So let’s see. Admits to stealing copper. Check.
Which more than inconveniences a lot of people and gets them hopping mad.
Check.
Paper tells everyone that he’s a transient, with probably few, if any, people who care about him. Check.
And said paper publishes his photo. Check.
Sounds like he now has a future date with a very deep hole in the ground. Wonder if the paper thought about this before they published his photo and name.
Now you’re using gun grabber logic. Even if no one has ever sold copper to a recycler that they got legally it’s not the recycler’s fault. Buying scrap metal for cash is a legitimate business, that scrap metal CAN be acquired legally, whether or not the seller DID is not the buyer’s job to determine.
The operators are in a bad spot when all they have is suspicions. If they say “no we don’t think you’re getting this legally” then the guy is just going to go sell to their competition, and now the competition has more inventory to sell. Maybe if the recyclers worked like Vegas casinos and had a black book, but people would probably just accuse them of collusion then.
As things get tougher all over, even for the criminals, then the organized guys get into more trades that work closer to our homes.
And we here in MI(outside of Detroit...where most of the problems reside)have been told our water rates are going up an additional 30%, on top of recent increases.
How is there a gun grabber analogy? Fencing is illegal, and immoral. The better analogy here is the “liar loans” in the mortgage crisis. You had borrowers lying on their paperwork, and mortgage companies who knew they were lying and didn’t care. Both parties are culpable.
The evil, straight conservatives forced him to do it with their WOD (war on drugs). [Little irony and sarcasm there.]
He might have stolen and sold the same copper several times.
Not to suggest that this jerk shouldn't be forced to come up with some form of restitution. However, I doubt that his kidneys are worth anything.
I don't see the need for sarcasm. If his drugs were cheap, he likely would destroy himself with far less collateral damage to others.
Liberals love the WOD as well. I don't see any liberal initiatives to stop the WOD. Liberterians, yes. Liberal, no.
If we legalized meth, it would probably cost a LOT less than $100/day for this guy's habit.
In fact, the government should legalize meth and give it away for free.
Cheaper in the long run.
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