Cops: Des Plaines couple scaled pole for copper

A Des Plaines couple faces felony charges for scaling a utility pole and stealing copper from inside utility lines, the Cook County sheriff's office said Friday.

Louis Baus, 36, and his girlfriend Cynthia Hamm, 32, both of the 2900 block of North Curtis Street, are each charged with felony theft in connection with the incident early this week near Crestwood Condominiums and Apartments in the Des Plaines area, according to a news release.

Police said the couple were in the area Sunday looking for discarded scrap metal when they noticed copper wiring hanging from a utility pole on the 10100 block of Holly Lane. Baus then climbed up "dozens of feet" and cut the lines, which Hamm helped him mine for strips of copper, according to the allegations.

"The couple made two trips in their 2003 Chevrolet Impala to haul it away," sheriff's police said in a news release.

Authorities said the couple made off with a 112.5-foot strip of copper on Sunday, then returned Monday to take a 111.4-foot strip, for a combined resale value of more than $1,700.

A neighbor who witnessed the theft called police, who alerted area law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the Impala. The couple were arrested later Monday after officers of the Cook County Forest Preserve Police Department spotted the car at the Beck Lake Forest Preserve, about two blocks north of the crime scene, and found cable cutters, screwdrivers and a hacksaw, along with the stolen wiring, inside, police said.

Bond was set at $50,000 for Baus and $10,000 for Hamm at a hearing Thursday in Skokie. Police said Hamm was since released on bond, but Baus remained in the county jail Friday.

They're both scheduled to appear in court again Wednesday in Skokie.