It always feels kinda weird saying it, but copper theft is a huge problem in the United States. Scrap copper is worth around three bucks a pound right now, which means that there’s a pretty penny to be found in ripping out old pipes and wires to take to the scrapper. As it turns out, some of the most copper-dense locations in the country without much security are electrical substations, where high-voltage power from long-distance transmission lines gets converted into something palatable for local communities. Substations have been targeted around the country to the point that our power infrastructure is threatened; without substations, communities will be stuck in the dark.In Montgomery County, PA, a group robbing substations over the past three years was just busted, thanks to a member of the group ending up in the hospital for months after a severe electrocution. According to WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, Harris Wilkinson then sang like an electric canary:Police say Wilkinson quickly turned on his alleged coconspirators, his wife Heather Wilkinson, Christopher Schade, and Ronald Neuman, who detectives say was the mastermind.
His alleged accomplices called Neuman the “godfather of copper.”
“I know in at least one case there was between 80 and 100 pounds taken in just one breach,” Foltz said.
The copper bandits would then take the valuable metal to a scrap yard and cash it in to use on drugs, beer, and cigarettes, according to investigators.Stealing copper isn’t the most lucrative enterprise in the world; that big haul of 80-100 pounds couldn’t have fetched more than a couple hundred bucks, and it’s hard work bundling up all those cables and wire in the first place (not to mention the danger factor). But, still, wouldn’t you risk jail and death to become the Godfather of something?Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead.
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