Rise of copper thefts in Richmond affecting businesses, emergency services
A rash of copper thefts in one west Contra Costa County community is spurring leaders to act, promising to crack down on not only those stealing the copper wires but the scrap metal dealers who are buying the ill-gotten goods.
According to the Richmond Police Chief, Bisa French, there were 20 reported copper thefts last year compared to more than 200 this year.
It's caused power and communication outages – leading businesses to lose their phone and internet service on a somewhat regular basis.
Jay Fowler has owned an Ace Hardware store in Richmond for more than 30 years, and he has had to dust off an old, manual credit card machine due to the internet outages.
"It means we can't take credit cards. We can't get phone calls. I'm still old fashioned. I have the old machine still, so I can still take credit cards and then when the internet, whenever it comes back up, then I can run them through. It does make the day a lot longer," said Fowler.
A recent rash of copper thefts in western Contra Costa County have caused other major issues.
Back in June, copper thieves cut the lines for the 911 call center in Pinole. All 911 calls had to be routed to the county sheriff's department for almost a week.
On Aug. 20, a man was found dead in an underground vault, suspected of being electrocuted while trying to steal copper wires.
"We are serious about tracking down and prosecuting those individuals who are responsible for copper theft," said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia.
He held a press conference with local leaders to address the issue on Tuesday saying it will take a regional approach with police departments and the Contra Costa District Attorneys' office to get the problem under control.
"You're hurting and affecting your neighbors, people who live in the community. When we don't have power and internet, we can't function as a business very well," said Chris Manning, the CEO of Overaa Construction.
Fowler said the outages have hurt his business. He says about 65% of his customers pay with credit cards, and many simply walked out when he told them the internet was down and he couldn't charge their card.
"Very frustrating, especially when you pull in and see wires laying on the ground and the poles chopped up. I wish they'd just stop doing it, but they're not going to until people stop buying it from them. It's just going to keep going," says Fowler.
The state has been trying to crack down on the scrap metal dealers who buy the copper – including passing laws requiring they collect a treasure trove of data on anyone coming to sell scrap. According to the DAs office, that sometimes isn't happening, which is what's giving a marketplace to all this stolen copper.
On Tuesday, AT&T filed a lawsuit against Alco Iron and Metal based in San Leandro. The suit alleges Alco knowingly bought stolen AT&T copper wire. Company representatives say without someone to buy the stolen copper, the thieves wouldn't have any reason to steal it in the first place.