Copper theives.... > General Discussion

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:50:31 PM EDT

Is it me or does it seem like it would be easier to work at McDonalds and make $7/hour than to break into a home (usually vacant ones) and steal someone's damn copper wires?

A buddy of mine who has some homes for rent in the ghetto got his rental broken into last week. He paid $25,000 cash for the home out of his savings and had renters scheduled to move in tomorrow paying $500/month rent only (no utilities). He paid cash for the home and it's in very nice shape for the price, 3bd, 2ba, 1,000sqft, (repo), just in a bad location.

...They pried a new window open, went down shut off the breaker and stripped every single copper line he had. Luckily his hot water heater and water lines were PEX. They even had the time to take apart the outside A/C unit and strip it, leaving the heavier cheap metal behind. Punched through walls above the outlets and pulled those lines just for maybe $100 or so worth of copper. Funny they didn't take the 200 breaker box cause it probably cost twice as much as what they stole.

He got a quote from an electrician and a guy who does drywall to fix the mess. $3,000

..... On another note I know a guy that was in the scrap business and had the Lake City account. He would haul off about 20, 55 gallon (blue) barrels of .223 and other mixed brass once a week. Contract with Lake City says it MUST be scrapped. I told him that each bucket was probably worth about $2,000, though he only got brass scrap value for it, which was like a buck or two at the time. It's sad cause all that scrap brass could be someone's fortune and seems like Lake City stuff is top of the line and could be huge for reloaders if they had access to it.

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:51:45 PM EDT

[#1]

Some folks are willing to work their butts off avoiding work.

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:51:52 PM EDT

[#2]

stop buying the copper from the meth-heads, problem solved.

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:55:28 PM EDT

[#3]

inject them with some nice hot copper coated lead goodness!

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:58:09 PM EDT

[#4]

I've heard of cases where the thieves grab hold of live 440 lines.

Crime spree ended.

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:58:26 PM EDT

[#5]

height=8

Quoted:
stop buying the copper from the meth-heads, problem solved.

Problem with that is it's pretty much untraceable. Anyone can take scrap copper wire into a yard and say they're in construction or what not.

I had another buddy of mine who worked a Union job on high rises. They used the stuff that's like 2" in diameter and he'd gather up the 2 foot long scraps of it (back in late 90's) and haul it home in his truck. Boss's didn't mind back then but he would bring home enough every day to almost bottom out his truck and over time had enough to buy a new vette and pay off his home...

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:58:58 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
I've heard of cases where the thieves grab hold of live 440 lines.

Crime spree ended.

So, put the breaker box in the gun safe?

Posted: 7/31/2008 7:59:14 PM EDT

[#7]

Meth heads rather strip copper wire for 16hrs but working a 9-5 is

Posted: 7/31/2008 8:01:53 PM EDT

[#8]

Hell every trip I would take one drum and then sell some and keep a lot.

Posted: 7/31/2008 8:01:58 PM EDT

[#9]

height=8

Quoted:
I've heard of cases where the thieves grab hold of live 440 lines. hat

Posted: 7/31/2008 8:03:19 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:
stop buying the copper from the meth-heads, problem solved.

Problem with that is it's pretty much untraceable. Anyone can take scrap copper wire into a yard and say they're in construction or what not.

I had another buddy of mine who worked a Union job on high rises. They used the stuff that's like 2" in diameter and he'd gather up the 2 foot long scraps of it (back in late 90's) and haul it home in his truck. Boss's didn't mind back then but he would bring home enough every day to almost bottom out his truck and over time had enough to buy a new vette and pay off his home...

alot of scrapyards require photo id copies now, and alot of people are smart enough to go find their shit.

Posted: 7/31/2008 8:05:04 PM EDT

[#11]

I think it would be amusing to somehow conceal the breaker box, set up a fake breaker box and some video cameras and watch the hillarity ensue.

Posted: 7/31/2008 8:07:47 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
I think it would be amusing to somehow conceal the breaker box, set up a fake breaker box and some video cameras and watch the hillarity ensue.

Hit new show this fall!

Posted: 7/31/2008 8:35:29 PM EDT

[#13]

The big thing that they steal now is the ground wires running down the power poles. In two months I will be building a second home in the country and copper theft is a big concern of mine.

Warning

Confirm Action

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Copper theives....

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Copper theives....