Copper thefts back on the rise

Copper is hot right now - and we're talking more than its rising price.

A rash of thefts targeting the popular metal have hit the suburbs in recent months, with thieves scaling walls, shimmying up utility poles and even severing live electrical wires to get the loot.

Experts say the trend is only starting to gather steam, now that copper prices are creeping back toward historical highs, and future housing construction would result in vulnerable work sites.

"I fully expect this to be the second coming of the copper thefts we saw in 2008" when copper hit an all-time high of more than $4 per pound, said Bryan Jacobs, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition Against Copper Theft, which is lobbying for federal legislation on the issue. "It's the new gold. People are going after this stuff like crazy."

Tracking metal prices, Comex listed copper today at $3.28 a pound.

There's the still unsolved April theft in Kane County, where thieves stole 950 feet of copper wire valued at $15,000 from a Canadian Northern railroad signal switch. And a Des Plaines couple last month was arrested for taking copper from utility lines, which were dozens of feet off the ground.

The most recent case came this week when a 45-year-old North Barrington woman was charged with felony theft from a place of worship. Authorities say Gina Lewandowski stole copper gutter downspouts from several churches in Park Ridge and Glenview last May.

Among those she's accused of hitting is First United Methodist Church in Park Ridge, where head of trustees Dave Dyer said she made off with copper strips up to 15 feet long that cost $2,500 to replace.

A general contractor, Dyer said he's not surprised by the theft. He had the new copper gutters were put in concrete supports to prevent another occurrence. But he wonders about scrap metal recycling facilities that would accept such an item.

"Obviously some of these people can't come across as reputable," Dyer said.

Implementing more stringent measures at those recycling facilities is how many think thefts of copper and other metal will best be curbed.

In 2009, the state of Illinois enacted a law that requires recyclable metal dealers to make a copy of a person's identification for transactions more than $100.

Barry Segal, owner of Lake County Scrap Metal in Lincolnshire, said he also installed security cameras at his 36-year-old business and documents the types of items he buys - a list police ask to see about once a month whenever investigating a case.

He's had customers - who he currently pays between $1.75 and $2.75 a pound depending on the quality of copper - try to sell him segments of oxidized roofs from municipal buildings or entire spools of copper stamped with a ComEd label.

"We can spot it a mile away," Segal said. "When somebody looks like he doesn't know where his next dollar is coming from and he's coming in with something more than a scrap, it's obvious."

He acknowledges there are likely dealers who gladly look the other way, but he doesn't understand why considering they'd take a loss if police ever confiscate the material.

Jacobs of the Coalition Against Copper Theft said 30 states currently have metal theft-related laws on their books, but that more needs to be done. He wants dealers to have to document as much as possible about the transaction and he wants to outlaw cash transactions.

The group is also calling for stronger penalties and legislation at the federal level since thieves often hit rail systems, telecommunication systems and other infrastructure that crosses state lines.

"Say a person steals $500 worth of copper," Jacobs said. "That doesn't take into account the tens of thousands of dollars in damage from the house he ripped apart."

On Comex, a division of the New York Stock Exchange, copper is currently trading for about $3.24 a pound. The price ranged between 70 cents and $1.33 in the 1990s and spiked to about $4 for two years starting in mid-2006 due to the housing boom and demand from China. It plummeted in November 2008, but has been creeping back up since then.

Sue Duchek, owner of Picket Fence Realty in Arlington Heights, said that about 70 percent of the foreclosed houses she's seen have been stripped of valuable items. Former owners and thieves often take not just appliances and fixtures, but copper piping, with related vandalism sometimes resulting in floods and drywall overtaken by mold.

"It can be high-end custom homes to the most modest condo," Duchek said. "I've seen it all."