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Theft of copper worth $190,000

R

Rollie NE PA

Well-known Member
Theives took copper and brass from a TV tower near here. The value including the damage to other equipment was estimated at $190,000.
The copper and brass was sold to local scrap yards.
Three people in their twenties pleaded guilty and were given a sentance of probation and a payback of $5,000.

Two more people are to be sentanced soon. I just don't know what the judge was thinking.

Police in Fairview and Hanover townships alleged Casazza, Herrold, Seiwell, Loucks and Meyers conspired to steal 400 feet of 6 1/8-inch diameter copper pipe, about 250 feet of 2 ¼-inch copper transmission line, 120 feet of 3 1/8-inch copper and brass couplings from WVIA’s programming tower between Aug. 4 and 18, according to the criminal complaints
 
The same thing happens to center pivot irrigation here. Tens of thousands of dollars damage for a few thousand dollars worth of scrap.
 
I'm no lawyer, however I'm going out on a limb and say the insurance company will cover the loss and then go after the theives for the balance. That may not amount to a hill of beans, but it will wreck their credit not to mention any good jobs for up to 10 years.
 
A couple of years ago these was a father/son team of ne'er-do-wells here in Middle Tennessee that were stealing anything they could get their hands on. The first few times they got hand slaps, but they finally stole a bunch of copper from the TVA. The father was sentenced to a year in the Tennessee penitentiary and I'm not sure about the son.

They should have gone to jail much sooner, but I was gratified to see that they finally got some time-out.

Tom in TN
 
The theives will be liable for the full amount of damage in a civil suit which will probably follow .Or several lawsuits if diiferent companies gear was damaged as was likely at a tower like that.
 
Now they have to find some more stuff to steal to pay back the $5,000.00 and still buy dope and beer.
 
Were's the abundant lawyers suing because the destruction of the TV tower
impaired the right to "free speech", Why isn't the TV station and the
insurance company suing the miscreants AND the scrap yard for the 190K
worth of damage to the tower? The idiots that did this are probably what's
called "judgement proof" meaning they don't have anything that can be
seized to pay for the damages. Let's change the law so if these young entrepreneurs decide to do a crime like this they loose all rights to any
public aide, subsidy or assistance and unless gainfully employed (meaning
they are working 40 + hours a week or more) they loose their driver's
license, hunting and fishing licenses and send them to a restricted jail.
By restricted I mean no cable TV no air conditioning and limited
educational programs. For them to get out of restricted confinement they
get a 40 hour a week job, work it under a release program until they have
demonstrated the ability to hold a job. Or in short sentence them to work
at McDonald's until they pull their head out of their backside and become a
productive member of soceity.
 
Scrap yards have to be held acountable for anything out of the norm. If one of use took a million dollars of pennies or forty bricks of gold to the scrap yard you think maybe someone would ask where we got it. We need to guard our copper with a small oblong pease of lead. Maybe even a bit of copper covering. "Hay....Sheriff they tried to steel it too".
 
Judge was way too lenient.

Copper thefts got so bad in Dallas, they passed an ordinance that you have to have a plumbing license to sell scrap copper.
 
The only meaningfull sentence for copper theft will be doled out by live electricity the night they cut the wrong wire...
I think they ought to just start prosecuting the scrap yards for buying the stuff. I mean... you come in with a mile of 1/4" linewire... really... where do ya think they got that at?

Rod
 
it will wreck their credit not to mention any good jobs for up to 10 years.
Click to expand...

Yup, they won't be able to get a decent paying job, so they'll just go out and do it all again, and again, and again, and again.
 
I highly doubt that anyone stealing copper (or anything else) are worried about their credit or finding a real job. That's why they were stealing in the first place, trying to find the "easy" way to get a dollar. I do agree that theyll be back, causing even more damage and mayhem in the near future.
 
You seem to think these people are actually willing to work. There's a entire class of people that get up every morning and try to figure out how to take things that are not theirs. In that entire thought process it never occures to them to try doing something productive to earn a living.
 
There is a former paper mill near here that closed in 2004. A broker was attempting to sell it as a paper mill to another company that wanted to operate it, but the damage done by thieves stealing wire, piping, motors, valves, etc was so much, that the deal fell through. Now the place has been gutted of all remaining machinery by the broker and most likely will be turned into apartments or condos when the housing market comes back, due to its location right on the river, next to a former RR right-of-way that is now a hiking trail into a nature preserve. BTW, one of the thieves did fry himself stealing wire, and guess what, he was a former employee of the mill. Several others who were caught were also former employees.
 
I used to work for ARCO Corporate Security (investigators, not physical security).

One of the investigators had to go to Oklahoma to investigate a death at one of our well sites.

Seems a potential copper thief tried to chop up a large copper electrical cable of several thousand volts with a hand axe. Not a good idea.
 
This is just like illegal drugs isn't it? If no one was buying, no one would bother stealing and selling. There once was a crime called 'recieving stolen property'.... ya don't hear about that too much anymore, and certainly no scrap yards are worried about it. If there is one place for more government, it would be police departments being the scrap metal buyers. But then... the wheels of industry wouldn't get and grease....
 
Cut a finger off the thief every time he steals something.

Shoot the liberals that complain that is unfair.

...I'm tired of bad people.
 
What tics' me off is why the lawyer for the commonwealth allowed such a plea deal. I assume that is what took place since they pleaded guilty.
I bet they also had a public defender. #^*%@!
 
Put the blame where it belongs, our sorry politicians who have created benifits like free housing, free food, and free health care to buy the votes of those kind of people. If you want more of something you subsidize it, whether its corn, or abundant welfare voters. Unless we make that change away from abundant politicians buying votes with our tax dollars, the sun is setting on the USA as we have known it. Joe
 
(quoted from post at 15:03:43 04/03/12) Put the blame where it belongs, our sorry politicians who have created benifits like free housing, free food, and free health care to buy the votes of those kind of people. If you want more of something you subsidize it, whether its corn, or abundant welfare voters. Unless we make that change away from abundant politicians buying votes with our tax dollars, the sun is setting on the USA as we have known it. Joe
Click to expand...

It ain't just there....

45 YO guy I know done his apprentaceship as a truckdriver and has done nothing else. "slipped" getting out of the truck one day and hurt his back. Can't drive truck anymore and didn't learn anything else. Upshot was he was in too much pain to retrain in something else, so the system retired him. Work related accident so the trucking company keeps him insured along with the pension. Guy sets at a picnic table in his garage drinking beer and surfing on his laptop when the neighbors are home and works in his yard/garden while they are at work.....
 
Out of curiosity, how long did it take anyone to notice? When everyone's TVs just went blank, not even a test pattern? What if it happened just about were to announce the winning numbers for the worlds largest lottery?

"And now for the winning numbers in the $600 Trillion lottery, the first number is ___poof________________________________________________________________________".

Mark
 
If that judge is any thing like the ones here they will get another two years of probation six months from now then they are brought in again.

Dave
 
All's well that ends well.

Here in my town students came back to a local high school yesterday. Mid-morning they complained that it was uncomfortably stuffy. The maintenance man went to the utilities room and discovered that over the weekend thieves had purloined 1000 feet of copper wiring serving the HVAC. School's out for two days.
 
I really can't remember what happened. I do know that the transmission building had been on fire in 2010. It is a public broadcast station and I think they were using someone else's tower.
 
Judges are kind of in a pinch. Most counties are tight on funds, keeping an inmate in jail costs about $70.00 per day (less medical costs, etc).
At minimum our County Attorney would have at min. given them Community Service (hard physical work).

Theft this large should have sent them to the State Corrections Facility.
 
From story;

"Fairview Township Police Chief Joseph Intellicato said police received a call at 10 a.m. Aug. 18 from a representative of WVIA television who reported the theft of copper from the transmission tower located on Penobscot Mountain."

"Intellicato said 400 feet of 6-inch copper pipe was taken; 250 feet of 2¼-inch copper transmission line; and 120 feet of 3 1/8-inch copper pipe. He said some of the material was cut from the transmission tower while the remainder was on the ground, which was partially in Hanover Township. Various metal clamps and straps used to connect the pipe and cable to the antenna also were taken, according to police. In addition to the value of the copper, police said there was about $100,000 damage to the tower, which was not in service at the time of the theft."

If it had been in service a couple of them would never do it again. I have personally seen what a TV transmitter can do when the line is cut hot.

"Intellicato said the stolen material was transported to Loucks' Nuangola residence where it was cut into small pieces. He said Loucks, Meyer and Seiwell sold the stolen copper to Brenner Recycling and Eastern Metal Recycling Terminal, both in Hazleton. Within 24 hours of being sold to the Hazleton firms, Intellicato said, the copper was shipped by boat to China."

Shipped by boat to China? Is there anything not going to China?
 
Around here you coulden't sell that stuff to the scrapyard without them copying your drivers liscence and them calling the police department to report it. A few pounds of copper or aluminum is ok but if it's a large quanity like that you have some explaining to do.
 
Theft of copper cables is more than a nuisance in my country (The Netherlands) and neighboring countries. Theft of railway signalling cables (scrap value in the order of a few hundred dollars at most) led to a train collision and derailment. This sent a high speed train set, worth millions of dollars, to the scrap heap. Fortunately only minor injuries to train driver and passengers.
What adds to the "attractiveness" of signalling cabling is that they are operated at low voltages, so little deterrent...
 
(quoted from post at 18:33:08 04/03/12) Judges are kind of in a pinch. Most counties are tight on funds, keeping an inmate in jail costs about $70.00 per day (less medical costs, etc).
At minimum our County Attorney would have at min. given them Community Service (hard physical work).

Theft this large should have sent them to the State Corrections Facility.
Click to expand...
Notice there are mandatory sentencing laws for drug users(even if they're only hurting themselves).I'd rather see thieves locked up myself!
 
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