Meeker Sheriff asks for public vigilance on metal thefts
August 2, 2011 at 10:23 am in West Central Tribune
LITCHFIELD Meeker County Sheriff Jeff Norlin is asking for the public’s help to be watchful for suspicious persons and vehicles related to copper, metal, and other salvage thefts. With the high prices of scrap metal, Meeker County, as well as across Minnesota and the nation, these types of thefts continue to occur, often causing thousands of dollars more in repairing and replacing the items taken. Scrap copper is at the top of the thieves’ lists, mostly heavy-gauge wire. Continue Reading
Uh, copper IS a metal.
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These thieves do thousands of dollars in damage and they also prey on boarded up homes or foreclosed homes. The thieves get in side and strip the piping and electrical wiring leaving thousands of dollars worth of damage, and the banks are stuck with the homes because buyers don’t want to pay for a home that has been gutted like this. The thieves are even climbing electical poles ripping wiring from these poles who not only riskes the lives of those repair guys sent to fix them, but causes problems for residents down the road. Nothing like a good electical shock to end a thieves career. If your stupid enough to risk your life messing with electrical wiring then you get what you have coming to you.
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I once investigate the theft of catlitic convertors cut from the pipes of cars on a car lot in the cities. The thieves slid under the cars and using some type of metal cutting device removed 17 convertors from some expensive cars on this car lot. Seems like there was a market for these stolen convertors and the thieves were getting a pretty good dollar for their bounty. What bugs me is those companies who pay out the money for the coppers or other metals don’t ask any questions. The convertors were being sold to chop shops and the scrap yards who were making a pretty good profit off the stolen cooper, which is why they never asked any questions. I chased a perp who had just cut a convertor from a Buick, and he had used a battery powered metal saw that he dropped to make his escape, he was wearing a backpack and dressed in black, too fast for me, but the main goal was to stop the theft. This thief was a younger man so its not only your old homeless street people who hang in the alley ways. Crack heads, meth heads, and those addicted to other drugs are a majority of your culprits I have come to find out.
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Whenever you bring in recyclables to a reputable dealer, you have to sign for the payment. And the state law is that if it is over a certain amount, the exchange should be videotaped, at the least.
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