Our Awful Situation

« More airports prepping to use full body scanners
Moving back with mom and dad…at 52 »

Copper is the new underground currency

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 16th, 2008

More signs of the times:

The gang descended on the house on Penn Avenue like carrion, ripping open wall board and gutting it of copper. They severed the pipes connected to the gas furnace and water heater, then hit the kitchen sink. Piles of lath lay at the foot of the stairs, the wall torn open to expose the upstairs bathroom.

By the time officer Richard Jackson knocked down the door, the gang was gone — along with most of the home’s copper.

Jackson, who’s largely in charge of fighting the growing copper theft trade in Minneapolis’ Fourth Precinct, stepped gingerly around piles of trash, beer bottles, fresh dog feces, dead mice and used condoms.

“Welcome to my world,” he said.

Copper is the new underground currency. Its price has soared to more than $3 a pound, making it a worthwhile target of both novice scavengers and highly organized rings that hit several houses a day, pulling in as much as $20,000 a month. No longer just a nuisance, copper thieves are ransacking neighborhoods and often staying one step ahead of police.

Comments

{ }

Search

Recent Posts

Sites of Interest

Archives

Categories