Williamsburg Police say they have suspects in recent rash of copper thefts

If you’ve had an air-conditioner stolen, had copper wire ripped out of a home you’re trying to sell or rent, or had your phone service knocked out because thieves cut telephone lines recently, then you aren’t alone.

Williamsburg Police, Kentucky State Police and the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department all report recent spikes in copper thefts over the last four to six weeks.

However, Williamsburg police think they may have arrested one person responsible for several of the thefts in town and have identified a second suspect in many of their cases.

About 5:28 a.m. Tuesday, Williamsburg Police Detective Bobby Freeman charged Auturo D. Mattie, 35, of Williamsburg, with theft by unlawful taking over $500 but less than $10,000, possession of burglary tools, first-degree criminal mischief and first-degree criminal trespass.

"All along in our air-conditioner case he was a suspect. He is definitely a suspect in several," Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird said Tuesday afternoon. "We don’t think he acted alone in all of them. We have information to believe he was not by himself last night.

"We do have one other suspect. We believe the other suspect and Mattie are involved in several of the thefts in town. We are going to do our best to try and put a case together on all of it."

Bird estimated that over the last month, his department has investigated 15 to 20 copper related thefts inside the city limits.

"The bulk of our case load right now is copper thefts. In the last month we have just been inundated with copper thefts. It is mostly air-conditioning units that have been stripped from vacant and abandoned buildings and vacant or abandoned homes," Bird said.

Bird said that because of the thefts, he beefed up patrols on third shift with several officers volunteering to work extra late shifts.

"We just saturated the area with law enforcement. We knew it would pay off sooner or later and it did," he said.

About 4:45 a.m., Freeman spotted an individual running across Main Street going onto 11th Street wearing camouflage pants, and stopped the man because there had been several thefts in the area, Bird said.

Mattie was discovered with a full ski mask in his pocket. In addition, he had gloves, a long sleeve shirt, and a sweatshirt tied around his waist.

"He was soaking wet," Bird said. "When we patted him down he literally jingled because he had so many tools in his pockets. He had wire cutters, flashlights, sockets, screw drivers, everything you would need to strip an air-conditioning unit."

Williamsburg police detained Mattie and canvassed the area.

They found his vehicle parked near the city school around the tennis courts a few blocks away.

"Laying in his vehicle, we could see a sledge hammer and a professionally sharpened axe, which is what they use to chop the copper lines with," Bird said.

About 45 minutes later, Capt. Eddie Cain discovered stacks of air-conditioner radiators and copper tubing beside the road bound in black electrical tape near the old Lion Apparel Building. Police found the same type of tape on Mattie when he was searched, Bird noted.

Police believe that the radiators and tubing came from part of the 13 air-conditioning units on top of the front building, which is unoccupied, Bird said.

It appears several of the units had been stripped and police planned to go back on the roof later Tuesday evening for a  more thorough examination in an effort to determine when the units were stripped.

Bird noted that he arrested Mattie about six to eight months ago in connection with a copper theft from other air-conditioning units on the same building, but so far he is continuing the investigation and hasn’t presented the case to the grand jury.

Bird said he believes that Mattie came back to the building Tuesday morning to finish the job he started months ago.

So far Mattie is only facing charges in connection with the earlier 2012 case and his arrest last night.

Freeman is continuing the investigation and was assisted Tuesday morning by Bird, Cain, Officer Tim Shelley and Kentucky State Police Trooper Tony Dingess.

 

Vendor’s Mall hit

One of the most recent copper thefts prior to Tuesday morning in Williamsburg took place at the Williamsburg Vendor’s Mall either late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Bird said thieves went on the roof and dismantled an entire air-conditioning unit.

Williamsburg Vendor’s Mall Owner Johnnie Rae Peters said that employees discovered the air-conditioning not working in part of the store when they opened Friday morning but at first just thought that the thermostat was broken.

They called the building owners, who sent maintenance workers that discovered one of the three air-conditioning units had been stripped.

"I couldn’t believe it because it was on top of a building," Peters said. 

She said it’s particularly irritating due to the fact that the thieves will only make a few dollars from the theft compared to the thousands of dollars it will cost the landlord to replace the air-conditioning unit.

"It is ridiculous. I think a lot of times it boils down to they just need some drug money," Peters said. "They have to lay down and sleep at night and deal with it. We don’t."

Bird estimates that the thieves probably only received $150 to $200 from the stolen air-conditioning unit components taken from the vendor’s mall.

 

Vacant buildings targeted

Bird said that the thefts haven’t been limited to just air-conditioning units.

"They have stolen the caps off the fire hydrants in the city," he noted. "I guess they are brass and thieves are taking those to the scrap yard. They are climbing electric poles and cutting the ground copper off of electric poles."

In addition, thieves are entering vacant houses and cutting the lines at the weather head and meter boxes and pulling out 15 to 40 feet of copper out of houses, Bird added.

"They are probably getting the very minimum amount on it at the scrap yard but it is costing the homeowner between $300 and $500 to replace that," Bird said.

 

Phone lines targeted

Dingess said that he is investigating a recent phone line theft case at the intersection of Ky. 92E and Highway 11.

This particular theft caused $6,000 worth of damage to a 150-foot section of AT&T phone line and knocked telephone service out all the way to Pineville.

Dingess noted the public is fed up with the phone line thefts in that area, but he said that the thieves are waiting until real foggy nights when you can’t see 15 feet in front of you to strike.

Thieves are apparently using ATV’s and are climbing telephone poles to get the wire, he said.

"I have another one on Highway 904 where they stole approximately 600 feet, over two football fields worth of stuff," Dingess said. "Between myself and Trooper Mike Witt, we are probably looking at four different cases over the last week. All are AT&T phone theft."

Police say that in almost all the copper theft cases, thieves are stealing in order to get money to purchase drugs.

"They steal enough to go get $30 to $40 in order to buy a pill," Bird said. "The economy is a big part of it, but the biggest part of it is drugs. Most of the people we are seeing doing it are on drugs."

Officials say it is difficult to say what thieves are receiving for the stolen metal because the price varies from scrap yard to scrap yard.

Bird said that thieves are apparently driving to scrap yards outside Whitley County to sell their stolen metal because they can get more money at other locations.

 

Metal recycling law

Last year, Kentucky toughened up its laws regarding metal recycling, but how well it is working to deter theft depends upon whom you ask.

In 2012, the Kentucky General Assembly passed House Bill 390, which requires a registry for second metal recyclers. The registry is administered by the Office of Occupations and Professions (O&P) in the Public Protection Cabinet. The registry requires applicants to pay the Kentucky State Police for conducting background checks, and also limits payments for restricted metals to be done by check or electronic bank transfer rather than cash.

In addition, it requires the registry to keep records of restricted metal purchases such as manhole covers, guardrails, traffic signs, etc., and makes those records available to law enforcement at all times.

While reports of copper theft has increased significantly in the last six weeks, Whitley County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy K.Y. Fuson said it isn’t as bad as it was before the new scrap metal regulations took effect.

"We have seen an increase over the last six weeks, but it is nothing like it was before the new law passed," Fuson said. "It is still a lot lower than what it was."

Fuson said he thinks thefts have increased in recent weeks because thieves have apparently found people willing to buy the stolen metal off the books.

"Obviously somebody is taking this copper that is not going by what the new law states, which is where we are concentrating our efforts right now," Fuson said.

"It is a supply and demand thing. You can count on us charging them when we catch them. If you can’t sell it, then there is no point in stealing it."

Bird said that from his standpoint, he doesn’t think the new laws regulating scrap yards are working at all.

"The penalties are very minor. It is not helping," Bird said. "The scrap yards are still taking it and the thieves are still stealing it. It is not working."

Bird said he thinks one solution is to hold the scrap yards more accountable if they are caught taking in stolen items.

Bird agreed that his department would seek indictments against any scrap yards or other metal dealers if they could show that they negligently took stolen property.

 

Home seller advise

Bird said he realizes people have to advertises houses that are either for rent or for sale, but he noted owners should also realize this is advertising to thieves that the homes are empty too.

"The best thing to do is make it looked lived in. Leave some lights on. Make it appear that somebody is still there," he added. "At least keep check on it."