By: Las Vegas Now Staff
The lucrative wiring is found in air conditioning systems, utility substations, light poles and more. Criminals see copper as a shining opportunity and quick cash.
Long stretches of highway in the valley have no working street lights for several miles. The copper wiring has been ripped from the poles. Crooks take it to scrap yards to cash in. It costs the city of Las Vegas more than 1 million a year to replace the copper.
“These are tough times and people are watching their pennies,” said Mayor Oscar Goodman.
The mayor is familiar with the courtroom, but Thursday he went against a defendant as a victim advocate on behalf of the taxpayers. Thirty-one-year-old Scott Helm is just one criminal who's ripped off the city for the sake of copper.
“The people who steal it have to be punished severely,” said Goodman.
The last big hit for the city was at Firefighters Memorial Park. Rikki Jones walks her dogs there daily. She was surprised to learn desperate thieves will even steal copper from the park honoring fallen heroes. She says the lack of lighting is a safety issue.
“It's dangerous. You don't know who's going to be. There's a lot of places you can go and no one can see you, so it can be a place for robbers and stuff too,” she said.
Last Friday, copper crooks came and they started ripping, cutting, and pulling, leaving most of the park in the dark. Crews got the lights back on at a hefty price of $6,000.
With documents from the city already forecasting a bleak economic outlook, and proposed budget cuts bringing delays in streetlight response and repair times, copper capers are a concern.
“If it's copper, they're ripping it out,” said Metro Lt. Robert Duvall. Police are making sure recycling centers are keeping records and following the law.
“We hold them to the letter of the law, thereby preventing less of an opportunity for thieves to get paid by stealing copper,” he said.
Goodman hopes thieves will see defendants like Helm and get the message. He was ordered to pay more than $8,000 in restitution and spend more than a year behind bars. His ex-girlfriend says he, like so many other copper thieves, was hooked on methamphetamine.
Email your comments to Reporter Aaron Drawhorn
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As a commercial property manager, copper theft has had a huge negative impact on our clients and their substantial real estate holdings. Just yesterday, 4/17/08, we sufferred a loss of over $120,000 at a retain building here in the valley. The billboard on Spring Mountain near Valley View advertising cash for copper doesn’t help. Steve Neiger in my office is putting together a coalition of other property managers to get together and try to effectuate some change. These losses will eventually impact everyone. There were small businesses in our center who can’t afford to replace copper and air conditioning units, thus may have to raise prices or go out of business. This is serious and needs much more media attention. Thank you,
Comment by Kammy Bridge — April 18, 2008 @ 7:34 am
Working with Ms. Bridge on this matter is of utmost importance to myself and others in our company. These people and the companies that they forward these stolen items to should be accountable including the recyclers. They are like spider men in the middle of the night on these buildings. These people are not kids that do this. They are adults with the knowledge to take a main electrical panel on a building and make it an empty box. Enough is enough. The Commercial property owners need to come together and put these criminals and the recyclers of copper parts out of business. PERIOD!!!!!
Comment by Troy Tobler — April 18, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
With copper theft being such a big problem, I think there is now a need for people that go to copper recyclers to have to apply for some type of City/County permit. That would rail the recycling centers blanket acceptance of copper from anybody. This might not stop the theft, but the police would be able to watch volumes/types of copper being recycled and track trends from individuals.
And requiring this permit, maybe similar to a yard sale permit, time limited, validated applicant etc. this might thwart goons showing up with 100’s of pounds of copper, never having to document where it came from.
Let’s face it, a barely employed 20-something year old hauling in a few hundred feet of commercial grade copper should raise a lot of eye brows.
Comment by Bill W. — April 21, 2008 @ 5:43 am
Too bad we don’t have more theives electrocuted while attempting this…. Darwinism is letting us down.
Comment by James — April 21, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
[…] April 22, 2008 Interesting Story related to Las Vegas building Costs Posted by lasvegasrealestate4u under Las Vegas Living Conditions | Tags: las vegas builders | We’ve known for quite some since working for a new condominium developer back in 2005 and 2006 that building costs have been going up. Here is a recent story somewhat relevant that will give you a good idea what the demand for one particular building material is creating that you can read here. […]
Pingback by Interesting Story related to Las Vegas building Costs « Las Vegas Real Estate | Summerlin Homes | Green Valley Real Estate — April 22, 2008 @ 1:22 am
Chicago just passed an ordinance requiring detailed records on sellers –>
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/883116,CST-NWS-metal08.article
Their solution seems a little more proactive.
Comment by Paul Francis — April 22, 2008 @ 1:33 am
As a recycler we go above what is required by current law to help screen out the thieves. We require a government issued photo ID and scan it. We record license plate numbers and ask for contractor license numbers when applicable. We turn away people if we think there is a problem and have found that by doing this we do not see many thieves any more.
We are taxpayers also and do not like for our money to go for stuff like this when our community has other more pressing needs. We are not immune to the theft problem either. We had to spend 30K to secure our facility from theft.
I can not speak for all but our firm wishes to be part of the solution not part of the problem.
Comment by scott s — April 22, 2008 @ 5:49 am