Posted on 09/21/2026 5:41:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
A load of copper worth nearly $600,000 was recovered on Sept. 11 after investigators followed a trail from Illinois to Kentucky and Ohio, wrapping up the initial search only about eight hours after the theft was reported, according to Yahoo News.
The case began when a shipment scheduled to travel from DeKalb, Illinois, to Rock Hill, South Carolina, never made it toward its intended destination. Authorities believe whoever collected the freight had presented themselves as an established trucking company, using genuine business information to make the pickup appear legitimate.
The breakthrough came from location data tied to Schneider National equipment involved in the haul. Rather than heading southeast toward South Carolina, the freight was traced to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where police found the entire six-pallet copper shipment inside a warehouse. Three people were detained in Kentucky.
Meanwhile, investigators continued following the equipment used to move the load. A Schneider chassis and container were located in Chillicothe, Ohio, while state troopers separately intercepted the tractor associated with the pickup. One additional person was taken into custody in Ohio.
Yahoo reports that the operation involved authorities in Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio, along with Schneider National and CargoNet, which had helped flag the theft. Information about the truck, trailer and driver was quickly distributed among agencies as investigators attempted to follow the shipment across state lines.
Police are now examining whether the incident may overlap with another theft involving Schneider equipment and whether the people or trucking identities involved could be part of a wider cargo-theft operation. So far, authorities have not publicly identified the four people detained or disclosed what charges they may face.
The episode also illustrates how freight theft has evolved beyond simply stealing unattended cargo. Criminals can use authentic company information to appear legitimate long enough to take control of valuable shipments. In this instance, rapid reporting and tracking technology allowed investigators to locate both the cargo and much of the equipment before they could disappear further into the supply chain.
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I’ll drink to that!! lol
Well, at least we know they were going to put it to good use!..............
I get your comment, but I think that’s solid copper, not tubing. 6 pallets like that of tubing wouldn’t be close to a full load nor that value.
😁....................
Zooming in on the picture it does look like tubing.
Schneider is a French company with electrical manufacturing facilities in South Carolina. The copper is likely wire.
The manufacturing facilities in South Carolina might be Square D facilities.
I deal with a company in Boise that hauls lumber on their flatbed maxi trucks. However, their main business is being a scrap yard. They haul crushed autos over to the coast/Portland and haul lumber and other commodities back to Boise on their flatbeds.
They recycle copper Romex wire. They have a machine that strips the casing off the wire, chops it up into 1/8” long pieces and blows it into cardboard bins up to 4000 pounds.
They load 16 bins on a flatbed and take it to some smelter over in OR. A full maxi flatbed is 64,000 pounds. They get about two loads a month.
They also recycle Catalytic converters and recently tires.
There is a lot of money in scrap.
Kentucky has to replenish all the bourbon drank after beating the Aggies yesterday and looking like they were going to beat Bama in the 1st half a week ago.
I said it was wire, but on reflection, it might be copper used for some kind of bus bars in heavy Square D units
Great work! Now do trafficked children.
And they're getting cheaper by the day.
There are companies that make specialized RFID inventory tracking tags and related sofware. There appear to be some problems using them to track metals, however (per AI).
What I was thinking.
I ain't got yer copper wire and no, you can't come in my warehouse to look for it!!
Agree...it’s tubing
“Schneider is a French company...”
Schneider National is a trucking company, Schneider is (as you correctly stated, is a French electrical manufacturing company.
True, but the article could be read as it being Schneider freight company.
"A Schneider chassis and container were located in Chillicothe, Ohio"
A little clarity on the writer's part would go a long way.
It’s the coiled copper tubing on the left of the photo, not the straight bars on the right. The photo on the right is included IMHO because in the distance in that photo is another spool of copper tubing.
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