Thieves turn scrap to gold

Stealing copper is such a big business that Hillsborough has a full-time detective.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN, Times Staff Writer
Published February 7, 2008

James Milfort, left, throws copper piping into a box while co-worker Jimmy Collins saws it into pieces at Industrial Metals Recycling in Tampa on Wednesday.
	[Kathleen Flynn | Times]

TAMPA - When the sun sets across Florida each day, thieves make their way to businesses, construction sites and unoccupied homes to steal copper wire and air conditioner coils.

The theft of copper for profit has so plagued growing suburbs like Riverview that people are starting to fight back.

Victims boast of putting alarms on air conditioners; a sheriff's detective now exclusively handles copper cases; and a state legislator is pushing a bill to tighten oversight of scrap metal sales.

The scrap copper, often shipped to China to be recycled, sells for about $3 a pound.

In the latest bust by Hillsborough County sheriff's Detective Dillon Corr, two 18-year-old men were accused Tuesday of hitting 15 sites in 35 days and leaving behind more than $100,000 in damage.

Cousins Stephen Michael Arellano of Gibsonton and Timothy Allen Brothers of Lithia face 58 felony charges, sheriff's officials said.

"They just take a ratchet and pull the cover off and take the aluminum copper sitting inside there," Corr said.

Corr, who has been dubbed "the copper crime stopper," investigates 65 to 80 copper cases a month.

He estimates that since 2006, the bill for repairs after copper thefts in south Hillsborough County alone has reached $2.6- million. Last year, he worked a case involving $80,000 worth of transmission line that was stolen from a television news tower. "It happens every day."

Skilled thieves can move in and out in five minutes, he said. Nearly always, the damage left behind is more costly than the copper.

Shimberg Homes was hit six times this year. Arellano and Brothers are the suspects in all six cases.

Company employees estimate stolen copper wires were worth about $300 per house. But it costs $15,000 to rewire each home, said Seth Bell, sales marketing coordinator for Shimberg Homes.

Bell said the company has since hired a security firm to patrol properties on foot and monitor with cameras.

Another victim was Johnny Moore, president of Quick Draw Designs, whose Riverview business was hit right before Christmas. It cost him $2,600 to repair his air conditioning unit.

"They leave the guts there and take the copper," More said. "It's a shame."

While Pinellas and Pasco counties do not have full-time copper detectives, agencies in both counties recognize the problem and are putting more resources into metals investigations.

"Copper theft is an epidemic," said Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin. "Throughout Florida, they're literally swamped with these types of thefts."

Construction in Pasco County is ripe with valuable metals. In one case, a plumber did work at a new home and returned later that night to steal the metals from the plumbing he had just installed, Tobin said.

Largo police detectives participate in a monthly copper intelligence unit gathering that draws law enforcement from all over the state.

One indicator of copper crime's wide reach: A bill by Republican state Rep. Baxter Troutman of Winter Haven to fight the problem has garnered unwavering support, Troutman said.

Troutman draws from personal experience.

About eight months ago, thieves destroyed an irrigation pump motor on his citrus farm to get to $200 worth of copper wiring inside.

The repair cost $5,200. Only when Troutman called sheriff's officials in his hometown was he able to grasp the magnitude of the stolen metals trade, which involves other materials as well.

"Manhole covers, street signs, for the love of Pete, people are going to cemeteries and stealing the metal off headstones," Troutman said. "It's just unthinkable what some of these folks have been doing."

Troutman's bill would make it harder to sell the scrap. Sellers would have to show identification, submit a thumbprint and offer their items for photographic documentation. They would have to arrive in a motor vehicle, a measure intended to exclude thieves who lug stolen metal around in untraceable shopping carts.

The bill passed its third and final House committee Tuesday and will go to the Senate next month.

"We're certainly not suggesting the scrap yards are criminals in any way, shape or form," Troutman said. "One way to stem the theft is by restricting the outlet."

One Hillsborough scrap yard operator said the scrap buyers are victims, too.

Edward Sharpe, vice president of Industrial Metals Recycling, said he once had 12,000 pounds of stainless steel stolen from his business four hours after it was dropped off.

"We don't keep any piles of copper out," Sharpe said. "If we do, it will be gone overnight. Even if you have a guard, you have to hire a guard to watch that guard and then you have to hire another guard to watch that guard. It's a real problem."

Dong-Phuong Nguyen can be reached at nguyen@sptimes.com or 813269-5312.

Law designed to thwart copper thieves

State Rep. Baxter Troutman of Winter Haven has authored a bill that would make it harder to sell scrap metal to scrap yards. If the bill passes, buyers must document information from sellers such as:

- Full name, address and home and work phone numbers.

- Vehicle make, model and tag number.

- Height, weight, gender, eye and hair color.

Some other highlights:

- If the seller gives false verification for transactions less than $300, it moves from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony; for more than $300, it goes from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony.

- Buyers must hold the material for seven days

- Any payments totalling more than $1,000 must be paid by check.

Source: state Rep. Baxter Troutman

[Last modified February 7, 2008, 07:36:25]