Wire Theft Darkens Complex
By The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
Jan. 29–The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office seeks information about who stole several thousand feet of electrical wiring from a county development during the weekend, an official said Tuesday.
The thefts left 12 streetlights in the development without power.
Authorities said they think the thefts occurred between Saturday and Monday. The stolen wire is worth about $5,000, police said.
The wire was taken from 12 junction boxes spanning one-and-a-half blocks in the area of 29th Way Southeast and Riley Drive Southeast in the Evergreen Heights development, Lt. Chris Mealy said.
Mealy, who supervises deputies who work metal-theft cases, said last week that copper-wire thefts have been on the increase. A law that took effect July 22 had succeeded in curtailing them, but “Something’s changed in the last couple of weeks,” he said.
Thieves seek to capitalize on rising prices by selling the metal to recyclers, Mealy said. Copper was valued at $3.29 per pound in metal-market reports for Tuesday. For updated prices of other metals, see Page A10.
On Jan. 23, a thief or thieves snatched 1,500 feet of wire that ran through an underground pipe to a well.
A week earlier, in the same neighborhood, thieves broke into the electrical boxes powering six streetlights and removed copper wiring.
Last month, a 2-mile stretch of Evergreen Parkway, the main route to The Evergreen State College on Olympia’s west side, was dark after thieves stole several thousand feet of copper wire from streetlights over the course of a month or so, police said. Also, the state Department of Transportation was victimized three times in two weeks.
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