News COPPER & ROBBERS: Farms, Rural Areas Hit Hard As Thieves Go After Precious Metal

COPPER & ROBBERS: Farms, Rural Areas Hit Hard As Thieves Go After Precious Metal

COPPER & ROBBERS: Farms, Rural Areas Hit Hard As Thieves Go After Precious Metal
May 23, 2008 |

David Wilson of Talladega County thought he was getting a deal when he bought five used irrigation systems from a sod farm last year. This year, he’s not so sure.Six times within a two-month period thieves invaded his fields under the cover of darkness armed with wire and bolt cutters, shimmied up the pivot of his electric-powered systems and stripped five systems of their precious commodity — copper wire.In the process, they also cost Wilson about $30,000 in wire replacement and damages — a hefty chunk of change for anyone, but not enough to quench the thieves’ insatiable thirst for copper. “I didn’t like electric pivots when I put these in, but I thought I got a good deal. Now I wish I’d never seen ’em,” said Wilson. “I’m sick. I came out here yesterday and it almost made me throw up.”All over the United States, copper theft — and the property damages that often come with it — is costing homeowners, farmers, builders and others uncounted millions of dollars.In Alabama, David Wilson’s cornfields are only one battlefield. From far north Alabama all the way to Mobile, copper thieves have struck schools, churches, abandoned buildings, new construction sites, electrical power sub-stations, irrigation systems, poultry houses and farm machinery.The problem is so pervasive that Alfa Insurance announced April 29 that it was offering an additional $10,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for the theft of copper from property in Alabama covered by an Alfa Insurance policy. Alabama Farmers Federation members already benefit from a $1,000 reward for theft from their property.”The theft of copper wiring and other valuable metals is growing, especially in our rural communities. Not only do the criminals who commit these acts cost our policyholders money, they often do thousands of dollars in damage to property and cripple the equipment and buildings farmers depend on for their livelihoods,” said Alfa Insurance and Alabama Farmers Federation President Jerry A. Newby.The announcement came on the heels of a $4,000 reward for theft posted by the Baldwin County Farmers Federation after about 15 irrigation systems on turf and row crop farms in that county were damaged.In neighboring Mobile County, Bert Driskell of Grand Bay was also counting up the losses — he’s estimating $35,000 — after thieves struck three of his pivots, stealing not only the pivot wires but also taking the underground wiring as well.”We lost three pivots, and we don’t know whether it’s over or not because we’ve got four more pivots,” said Driskell, adding that he’s postponed repair because he fears the culprits will return. “They do it during the night, and nobody sees them.”That’s why Steve Bailey, owner of Southern Ag Services, Inc., in Foley which sells irrigation systems, met recently with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department in an effort to coordinate a system that will more closely monitor irrigation systems which are often positioned in remote locations.Last year, the Alabama Farmers Federation worked with a coalition that included Alabama Power Company, Home Builders Association of Alabama and others for the passage of a bill requiring scrap metal recyclers to document their transactions of non-ferrous metals such as copper.Sponsored by Rep. Randy Wood of Calhoun County, HB94 went into effect last September. Since then, recyclers have been required to verify the identification of the person(s) selling the material, record the seller’s name and address, log a description of the metals, the amount paid, etc. There are also provisions to allow law enforcement officials to inspect the recycling facility and order a “hold” on materials believed to be stolen.”The deterrent is the traceability in this legislation,” said Paul Pinyan, the Federation’s governmental affairs director. “If somebody shows up at a scrap dealer with a truckload of cemetery urns, you pretty much know they’re stolen. We were trying to find a way to aid law enforcement. They needed something in the law to help them, and this is what we came up with. It’s not perfect, but it’s something.”Pinyan says Wood and fellow legislator, Sen. Roger Bedford, introduced other bills this session that would have toughened the penalties for copper theft. However, both bills died in the House.In the meantime, the thefts continue. Two Autauga County men recently pleaded guilty and were awaiting sentencing for a months-long crime spree in which they struck six country churches and a local school to steal copper tubing and wiring. They are charged with theft of property, burglary and criminal mischief.These men are thieves who were receiving minimal amounts of money for the copper tubing they stole,” District Attorney Randall Houston told the Prattville Progress. “Yet they caused massive amounts of damage to the property they destroyed.”It’s little wonder that tempers are beginning to flare. There have been at least three reports — one in Kentucky, one in Texas and one in Alabama — of suspected copper thieves being shot by homeowners.In mid-April, the Walker County Sheriff’s Office arrested three men and issued warrants for three others for their alleged involvement in a copper theft ring that was striking Alabama Power substations.”These substations are fenced off for a reason — they’re live electrical facilities,” Michael Sznajderman, a spokesman for Alabama Power, told the Daily Mountain Eagle. “They’re a dangerous place to be, but we are aware of the fact they have become prime targets for copper thieves. We’re working hard to put a stop to the problem before someone gets seriously injured or even killed.”Back in Talladega County, David Wilson says the thieves apparently had a close call when they struck an irrigation system behind his home in Lincoln. “They cut a wire coming into the pivot that had 440 volts on it,” Wilson said. “Fire just charred everything around where they cut it, but they were gone. They weren’t lying there. Whether anybody picked them up and carried them off, I don’t know.”He also doesn’t know whether the copper thieves who hit his pivots — and those of two neighboring farms — are the same ones who vandalized an excavator he had parked near one system. “They knocked every window in it out,” said Wilson. “They couldn’t crank it, so they took a hammer and hit every window on it.”Fingerprints? “You can’t get fingerprints on stuff like this,” said Wilson.Footprints? “What good would it do?” he asked. “After we put the new wire on, I spent two nights in my pickup right there just over the crest of that hill there because I figured they were probably out there watching (the repairman) put it on. What do you do? I can’t work all day and stay out here all night.”I don’t know what the answer is,” Wilson said with a shrug. “I am putting a security system on it. I don’t want to go into detail about it, but it will work, and my plan is to catch them — not run them off.”

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