Free Republic

Thieves desperate for their next mark have a new target as the deployment of a novel technological trend combines with rising prices in the commodities market: electric car chargers. The issue made headlines as recently as Jan. 15 when Seattle City Light, Seattle’s electric utility provider, told KOMO News that thefts of electric car charging station equipment they operate have been on the rise. Media Relations Manager for the utility, Jenn Strang, told KOMO that the problem has been quietly growing since last March. So far, eight charging stations have had their charging cables severed, rendering the stations unusable to...

CLEVELAND-- FirstEnergy is offering a $5,000 in hopes of tracking down the person who stole overhead wire and other electrical equipment in the Cleveland area. The suspects may be dressed as utility workers with hard hats and reflective vests, the company said in a news release on Monday. They even go door to door to tell residents about a power outage to stop customers from reporting problems to the Illuminating Company. That gives the thieves more time to the steal the wire. "The individuals are creating a safety and service reliability issue by cutting energized wires and letting them drop...

Copper is such a hot commodity that thieves are going after the metal anywhere they can find it: an electrical power station in Wichita, Kan., or half a dozen middle-class homes in Morris Township, N.J. Even on a Utah highway construction site, crooks managed to abscond with six miles of copper wire. Those are just a handful of recent targets across the U.S. in the $1 billion business of copper theft. SNIP The five leading states for the thefts are Ohio, Texas, Georgia, California and Illinois, the NICB said. SNIP Copper wire was stolen from a substation of Kansas-based Westar...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The biggest copper heist in Utah memory has stripped more than six miles of wire from a stretch of Salt Lake City highway.

A New York grand jury has indicted 15 Long Island Rail Road workers and two others accusing them of participating in the theft of copper wiring. The suspects surrendered Friday and said nothing as they turned themselves in to face charges, 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera reported. Eight of the defendants pleaded not guilty on Friday morning. The remainder will be arraigned later in the day. … Some of the workers accused in the scheme are accused of ripping up old copper wire as it was being replaced in Jamaica, West Islip and Babylon yards and instead of handing it over...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WSAZ) -- A new law goes into effect Wednesday to try to crack down on metal theft in Kentucky. Attorney General Jack Conway announced that House Bill 242 passed both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly during the 2011 legislative session and was signed into law by Governor Steve Beshear on March 16. Click here to find out more! HB 242 prohibits anyone from buying or selling metal that has been smelted, burned or melted. "Near-record prices for copper, platinum, aluminum and other metals have fueled the theft of common items such as copper wiring from utility lines,...

A man who may have been trying to steal copper wiring was severely burned on top of a utility pole this morning, Dallas Fire-Rescue said. His rescue was hindered because his flesh had melded with the metal on the pole. A Dallas Fire-Rescue dispatcher said a passerby called about 5:30 a.m. to report that a man was on top of a utility pole and that wires were sparking above in the 800 block of Regal Row near the Irving border. Police said there had also been reports of power outages in the area. When crews arrived, they found a person,...

Power officials say 19,000 utility customers in Southern California are without electricity because thieves stole copper grounding wires from a substation in Pico Rivera. Southern California Edison spokesman Steve Conroy said the theft was discovered Monday afternoon. Conroy says the missing grounding wires created unsafe operating conditions at the substation, which forced crews to de-energize the system, affecting customers in Pico Rivera and Whittier. Conroy says the thieves stole the metal while the substation was operating, which is extremely dangerous.

SAN JOSE -- South Bay authorities Wednesday revealed details of a year-long undercover operation targeting copper theft that yielded more than 150 arrests including an alleged Fremont bomb maker who prosecutors say is the first person in the country charged with making a cell phone detonated improvised explosive device.