Copper Theft

Thieves Target Copper Pipes, Wiring

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Thieves target copper pipes, wiring

By Loretta Sorensen, Journal correspondent

VERMILLION, S.D. — A unique kind of darkness has been invading rural areas in recent months: urban mining.

Thieves, who generally perpetrate their crimes under cover of darkness, have been stripping isolated farm places and sometimes homes in small towns of copper wire which they sell to area scrap metal dealers.

Concerns are mounting that thieves are not only risking their lives and causing thousands of dollars of damage to homes and businesses, but they also are endangering the lives of others.

The recent death of Earl Thelander, an 80-year-old Onawa, Iowa, man, who died from injuries suffered in an explosion that followed the removal of copper gas pipes coming into a house he owned validates those concerns.

“There’s a reward for anyone who can provide information about who did this,” said Jody Ewing, Thelander’s stepdaughter. “I never heard of urban mining before this happened. It’s so senseless.”

Leo Powell, operations manager for Clay-Union Electric Co-op at Vermillion, wonders if thieves in southeast South Dakota have at least some knowledge of how electrical power works.

“They’re putting themselves in some very dangerous situations in order to steal the wire, things a trained electrician wouldn’t do because it’s so unsafe” Powell said. “It makes me wonder if they actually worked for a power company. They either know what they’re doing and taking the risk anyway, or they’re mighty lucky.”

Powell cited the instance of a Kansas man who broke into a substation and was electrocuted because of his lack of knowledge about how electrical lines work.

“He was cutting ground wires off inside the substation and he was killed,” Powell said. “Some of the situations we’ve found, it’s hard to believe people would be that lucky. They almost have to know how electricity flows through the lines.”

Powell recommended that farmers be cautious if they find an isolated farmstead suddenly without power. In some cases, thieves leave dangerous situations behind when they dismantle electric poles and transformers.

It’s been about eight years since copper theft was an issue in southeast South Dakota. Rising copper prices drove the thefts then, just as they are now.

“Copper sells for about $3 a pound,” Powell said. “To put that into perspective, we paid about $900 for a transformer last year at this time. Now we’re paying $1,500.”

It’s not uncommon for thieves to steal as much as half-a-mile of copper wire.

In some cities, they steal copper elements from air conditioners. They begin at the end of a block and steal the same components from every homeowner on the block. Their actions don’t net them large sums of money; however, the damage they cause can run into thousands of dollars for homeowners and businesses.

“Scrap buyers in South Dakota are required to obtain a signature from sellers declaring that the wire they’re selling isn’t stolen,” Powell said. “Law enforcement is doing all it can to monitor homes and businesses, too. People should just be cautious if they find a situation where their power is suddenly out.”

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WOWT – Copper Theft Crackdown

Copper Theft Crackdown

Council Bluffs Toughens Laws

September 25, 2007

Copper Theft Crackdown image Council Bluffs has joined Omaha in an attempt to crack down on metal thefts.

The L & K Scrap Metals Yard takes in pounds of metal every day. Since June of last year, L and K and other Omaha scrap yards have been required by city law to take in information along with the metal.

L & K’s Keith Spangler says, “They take the cards now and make us take IDs and license plate numbers.”

Also on that card is a fingerprint, name and address. It’s an attempt to make it harder for thieves to sell stolen metal and easier to catch them when they do but the thefts continue.

The value of the metal targeted varies but thieves are still after it.

This weekend thieves stole four tons of copper wire from a Kiewit Construction lot. Also this month, nearly 5,000 feet of copper wire was stolen along Union Pacific tracks.

In August, a stolen copper gas line from an Onawa, Iowa, home led to an explosion, killing a man. The same month, 1,200 feet of copper wiring was stolen from an Omaha street-light project.

In July, a home for sale in Omaha lost its air conditioner, more than likely for its copper.

In May, a Habitat for Humanity house was a target: $50,000 worth of copper vanished.

These are just a few examples and reasons why Council Bluffs passed a new city law Monday night similar to Omaha’s, requiring scrap yards to take information from the sellers of most scrap metals.

Bluffs City Councilman Matt Walsh says, “We’ll make the thief think before they try to sell and hopefully we’ll take some of the profit out of stealing.”

An Omaha Police spokesperson couldn’t tell us if they’ve seen thefts of scrap metal like this drop because records are not separated by the type of theft.
WOWT.com comments on this story:

Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of the station.

Posted by: Lori Location: Onawa
The man who died, Earl Thelander, was my stepfather of 25 years. Roxanne, I also was not concerned about copper or metal theft, until it took the life of my father. The metal theft headlines ARE important, and should be a priority, so Kudos to the authorities, and the newspapers, for keeping it in the headlines!!!

Posted by: Dean Location: Omaha
Roxanne please dont forget about the person in Iowa that died a couple weeks ago to an explosion due to copper theft, thereby a homicide. It could happen again unfortunatly. On another note, have the person cashing in on copper carry a plumbers license or electricians license and be able to list jobsite location and document on paper. Its a hassle but thats the idea.

Posted by: Roxanne Location: Omaha
Does any one see anything wrong with this picture? We have four (4) headlines for shootings and two (2) of them are homicides, our kids are dieing here and Omaha is concerned with copper theft??? Wake up authorities and prioritize.

Posted by: Jeremy Location: Omaha
I am suprised to see that the city has yet to enforce laws against the selling of metals. In lincoln you have to have a license to sell the metal which requires you to actually show a license or provide valid id and finger prints, why don’t we have something like this in place yet? I bet that will put a crimp on someones attempts to sell metal.

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KCCI: Man Dies after $20 Copper Theft

KCCI Logo

Man Dies After $20 Copper Theft

Onawa Police Seek Informants

POSTED: 4:08 pm CDT October 12, 2007
UPDATED: 5:25 pm CDT October 12, 2007

ONAWA, Iowa — A $20 copper theft in August led to the death of an Iowa man, and local authorities said on Friday that they need the public’s help to solve the crime.

Earl Thelander, 80, died in late August after an explosion in a home he owns outside of Onawa. His son, Doug, said his father was preparing the property for a new renter. In the process, someone raided the inside of the home, police said, stealing wiring and tubing and cutting a gas line into the home.

Doug Thelander said his father aired out the gas smell in the house for almost three hours the next day, then plugged in a fan to move the air around.

“He said, ‘Doug, I didn’t smell anything, but that spark there was just a tremendous explosion,'” Thelander said, recalling one of his last conversations with his father.

Earl Thelander had second- and third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body. He died in a hospital four days later.

“It’s tough to watch. It’s tough to watch somebody like that just fade away,” Doug Thelander said.

Monona County Sheriff Jeff Pratt said has been working the case since the beginning. Now, he’s asking the public for more help.

“We’re talking about $20 worth of copper,” the sheriff said. “We’re trying to make people aware that somebody had to of heard something, or somebody spoke about it. We just want people to call in and give us some information.”

“He was a humble man,” said Doug Thelander. “He was a strong man. He was a good man.”

If you have information, call 800-859-1413. Callers may remain anonymous, and there is a reward for good information.

Victim’s family awaits copper thief’s arrest

Published Friday | October 12, 2007

BY ELIZABETH AHLIN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Perhaps the thief thought it was a harmless crime — stealing about $20 worth of copper pipe. Maybe he didn’t care who got hurt.

For now, the family of Earl Thelander of Onawa, Iowa, can only guess what was going through the mind of the person who damaged a propane line at Thelander’s house.

What followed was the stuff of nightmares: a gas-filled house, an explosion and painful burns that caused the 80-year-old Onawa man’s death.

More than six weeks later, investigators are nowhere near making an arrest.

The case is still under investigation, said Monona County Sheriff Jeffrey Pratt. But the thief did not leave tire tracks, footprints or fingerprints.

Without witnesses or physical evidence, authorities don’t have much to go on. They’re asking people to come forward with information.

“Hopefully, somebody will remember what was going on,” Pratt said.

For Thelander’s family, waiting for answers is agony.

“He was a good man. He followed the rules. He taught us to follow the rules,” Doug Thelander said of his father.

Thefts of copper have increased in recent years as the price of scrap copper has risen from less than $1 per pound five years ago to almost $3 per pound today.

Thieves have filched copper from electrical wire and ravaged homes under construction for copper tubing.

Iowa does not require salvage yard operators to keep records of their customers. But Omaha and Council Bluffs require salvage yard operators to record the identity and fingerprints of people who sell scrap copper.

Investigators have tracked down dozens of people who have sold copper tubing in the Onawa area through checks issued by the salvage yards. So far, the interviews haven’t led to the person who burglarized the Thelander house.

Earl Thelander had been working on the empty house, which he was preparing to sell. He left at 4 p.m. Aug. 27. When he returned at 8 a.m. the next morning, he saw that the house had been burglarized.

Onawa police officers and sheriff’s deputies found a damaged propane pipe while investigating the house. They opened up the home to air it out and left.

When Thelander returned about two hours later, he didn’t smell any gas, he later told his son. Thelander either plugged in a fan or flipped a light switch, triggering the explosion.

Thelander, who suffered second- and third-degree burns, spent four days in critical condition at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and died Sept. 1.

The hardest part, Doug Thelander said, is thinking about those four days when his father was in so much pain.

“The ordeal that he went through before he finally passed away was just horrible,” Thelander said. “There’s just no reason.”

Still, he is certain the thief who damaged the propane pipe will be caught.

“Somebody’s going to talk,” Thelander said. “Decent people just have to step up and take their community back. Somebody knows who did this.”

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Monona County Sheriff’s Office at 800-859-1414.

A good man died a needless, pointless death

‘A good man died a needless, pointless death’

Two months after blast, search continues for those responsible

By Travis Coleman, Journal Staff Writer
October 28, 2007

ONAWA, Iowa — Not a week goes by that Doug Thelander doesn’t want to tell his dad, Earl, about something. Recently, he watched a movie on the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War II, something he thought the U.S. Coast Guard veteran would have enjoyed.

“I wanted to tell him how good it was,” Doug said.

Two months ago today, on Aug. 28, Earl was injured by an explosion in the basement of one of his rental properties, which had been burglarized by copper thieves hours earlier. Four days later, the 80-year-old who family members said was as fit as a man 10 years younger died at an Omaha burn unit. His injuries were a result of a sliced propane line that ignited while he was cleaning.

Courtesy photo Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal
Byron Thelander, Vicki Gray and Doug Thelander pose at a memorial they created at the rural Onawa home where their father, Earl Thelander, 80, died after a home explosion two months ago. He died as a result of burns after the home was broken into and copper thieves cut a propane line.

No arrests have been made in the case, and Earl’s family and the Monona County Sheriff’s Office are still searching for those responsible for his death.

“No one is going to let this go away,” Doug Thelander said.

Rising scrap metal prices — about $3 a pound — drive the theft of copper from homes, businesses and construction sites. Although not completely absent from Northwest Iowa, Monona County Sheriff Jeff Pratt said the problem exists mostly in southern Iowa and cities such as Omaha. Since Earl’s death, there have not been any reported copper thefts in Monona County, Pratt said.

“I think people to the south are still having problems,” he said.

A deadly crime

At times, thieves steal miles of copper wire, leaving thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to buildings and, in the case of Earl Thelander, a family without its patriarch.

Sometime between 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 27, and 8 a.m. the next day, the thief or thieves broke into the unoccupied home at 20877 Gum Ave. in Onawa.

They stole about 20 feet of copper tubing from the basement and, in a search for more, cut what they may have believed was a water line, Pratt said. In fact, it was a propane line connected to a furnace. They then left with about $20 worth of copper.

Sheriff’s deputies went to the home that Tuesday morning to investigate after they got a call about the burglary. All the while, gas continued to seep out of the severed tubing.

Earl, who owned the home but didn’t live there, stopped by to clean up the mess left from the burglary. Around 12:30 p.m., he plugged in a fan to vent the gas fumes and believed the gas had dissipated when the home exploded.

“He said it was the brightest flash he’d ever seen,” said Byron Thelander, another of Earl’s 11 children.

“Unfortunately, it was one of the last ones.”

With what were later determined to be third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body, Earl crawled from the basement to his vehicle and drove more than three miles to his home, waving at people as he passed, said Vicki Gray, his daughter.

Earl was taken by ambulance to Burgess Health Center in Onawa. Initially, Gray said, her father didn’t look too bad — his face a little red — and he had been joking with family members after being admitted to the Onawa hospital.

“He was blaming himself,” Byron said. “We try to keep everything light.”

More than 30 people gathered at the Onawa hospital, the largest gathering of a family at that hospital, Byron said nurses told him. But almost immediately, doctors told the family Earl’s chances for recovery were slim. While Earl was in a medically induced coma, they said their goodbyes.

“I just told him how proud I was of him,” Doug said.

Earl was airlifted to the burn unit at Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, where he died.

‘A constant reminder’

In the days following his death, family members received more than 1,000 cards, Gray said.

Front page of Sioux City Journal article

The investigation remains open, in hopes that someone who knows who broke into the home will talk. It’s unknown if the culprit was simply passing through the area, but Pratt has been in contact with salvage yards in Onawa, Sioux City and Omaha. The sheriff’s office has interviewed 20 people so far, Pratt said. He’s also notified all sheriff’s offices in Iowa about the investigation.

Doug talks to Pratt every Thursday to check for any new developments.

“The case file has been left on my desk … it’s a constant reminder,” Pratt said.

Looking for leads

Doug believes someone in the community knows more about the burglary, and he is calling on decent people to take their community back.

“A good man died a needless, pointless death,” Doug said. “(Whoever) did this … knows someone, sooner or later, is going to talk.”

Last Wednesday, Doug, Byron and Vicki gathered outside the house where Earl was hurt but didn’t want to go inside. The walls were still held up by poles.

It was then that Gray spoke about losing her 19-year-old son, Bobby, in 1998. Years ago, Bobby wrote about how he’d like to be reincarnated as an eagle so he could see everybody from the sky. It’s not often one spots an eagle in Onawa, and Gray said Bobby is often symbolized by a hawk.

Recently, Gray spotted two hawks perched on two telephone poles, a sign, she believes, of Bobby and his grandpa, Earl. One hawk flew off, soon followed by the second.

“I knew it was Bobby trying to get his grandpa to fly,” Gray said. “It was a sign to me that he was OK.”

Reward being offered

Officials are offering a Crimestoppers reward for information leading to an arrest in the case involving the theft of copper tubing from Earl Thelander’s property and his subsequent death.

Anyone with information about the crime is urged to call the Monona County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 423-2525.

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Australia’s New Crime Wave

06 March 2008 – 9:18AM

Australia’s new crime wave

By Nikki Taylor

Australian Energy Minister Ian Macdonald

ACTION: Energy Minister Ian Macdonald shows a copper cable cut by a would-be thief

AFTER working on an empty house he is preparing to sell, 80 year-old Earl Thelander goes home to relax and get a good night’s sleep.

At eight o’clock the next morning he returns to the property and notices the house has been burgled. Shaking his head in annoyance he steps inside to check for any sign of damage.

Because it is still early he reaches out and turns on a light.

It is this innocent flick of a switch that will inevitably end his life.

Overnight thieves had broken into Mr Thelander’s house to steal copper. During the theft a propane line had been damaged causing the house to fill with explosive gas. When the eighty year-old grandfather flicked the light switch, he triggered a propane explosion which caused excruciating second and third degree burns to his body.

After four angonising days in hospital Mr Thelander died.

The copper stolen was worth just $20.

Although this incident occurred in Iowa USA, incidents of copper theft have grown by up to 255 per cent throughout Australia in the last year.

In November 2007, thieves in Parramatta NSW covered their faces with stockings and ripped copper piping down from public housing units causing rain to pour into homes.

Residents were left to live with the rotting stench of rancid carpet as well as being subjected to further burglary.

Moving to Melbourne and reports show two level rail crossings had to be closed after 50 metres of electrified copper cabling was stolen from train lines in Mont Albert.

The theft led to hours of chaotic traffic conditions, as well as the threat of human fatality due to a lack of accurate traffic signals.

Continuing around the country and two guard dogs were killed with cross bows in Western Australia when thieves broke into a building site and stole scrap copper from cable drums.

In South Australia 4000 chickens died a slow death when electricity to fans was cut to enable copper thieves to break in and steal $5000 worth of copper piping.

Place the microscope on the Upper Hunter and police are quick to admit copper theft is at an all time high.

Copper theft is not new in Australia, but as commodity prices soar the price of copper continues to skyrocket.

According to latest numbers released by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics(ABARE) the value of Australian commodity exports is forecast to increase to a record $189 billion in 2008-09.

This year alone the price of copper has risen by 41 per cent, creating an initiative for thieves to become bolder and more inventive in their attempt to make money from the emerging market.

Statistics have shown more than $100,000 worth of stolen copper is traded each month in NSW, but the State government say they are taking the necessary steps to bring an end to the ever growing problem.

Energy Minister Ian Macdonald said a series of community service announcements appearing on television and radio were warning people about the dangers and disruption of interfering with public utilities. “We are calling on members of the public to be aware of this crime, and the crippling effect it is having on schools, transport and power supplies. I’d like to call on all construction sites and related business in Scone to work with police in cracking down on this escalating trend,” he said.

He also warned potential thieves to be aware copper can be traced by police.

“People illegally trading in copper should be aware copper can be traced by police either because it has been tagged with permanent tracing technology or because scrap metal dealers can now keep a record of the source of all copper transactions,” he said.

Minister for Police David Campbell, said dispute high crime numbers he believes the new campaign is working.

“In the last two months there have been 90 reports of copper theft to the police, with elevated rates of arrests when compared to figures before the public campaign. These statistics reveal the campaign is working and police are committed to seeing the perpetrators of this crime caught and punished accordingly.”

Also on board in the fight against copper crime is new recruit, TV carpenter Scott Cam.

The NSW Government enlisted the TV presenter’s help in the hope his message might have some impact on viewers.

For Cam, it was an issue that hit close to home.

“If you work in construction, make sure you secure the work site. Do not leave tools or copper wires exposed for easy access, and help spread the word about the consequences of stealing and illegally trading in copper,” he said.

Hot spots for copper theft in NSW centre on construction sites, residential sites and development projects, and rail lines.

Crime Stoppers have empowered scrap metal dealers to say no to stolen copper and are now calling on the public to act on any information they may have.

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