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Metal Thieves Target Graves (MI)
Ann Arbor News/MLive ^ | 07/22/07 | Art Aisner

Posted on 07/22/2007 3:19:32 PM PDT by Kieri

As the price of copper and other metals rises, increasingly bold thieves in Washtenaw County are stripping the plumbing out of new houses, cutting catalytic converters off cars and going so far as stealing the ground wires from emergency radio towers.

Yet the latest target of metal-seeking crooks has people shaking their heads in disbelief.

"There's this fundamental belief that you'll be treated right after you're gone and that cemeteries won't be victimized,'' Washtenaw County Sheriff's Cmdr. Dave Egeler said after nearly 70 copper vases were swiped from grave sites at the Washtenong Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Ann Arbor Township last weekend.

The graveside thefts are the newest twist in what has become a common crime nationwide by thieves looking for quick money, police say.

Since April, there have been dozens of metal thefts throughout the county - from construction sites in Ann Arbor Township, radio towers in Ypsilanti and parked work vans in Dexter. Egeler estimates the overall cost of lost property is beyond six figures.

Copper is the most popular target. Since 2005, the cost of copper pipe and tubing has risen by nearly 71 percent, according to the Copper Development Association, an increase attributed to rising demand from Asia.

That's no justification to the families affected by the cemetery thefts, said Maureen Barr, family services manager at Washtenong Memorial Park.

The vases, nearly 90 percent copper, are quite heavy and were missing in several different sections of the 60-acre cemetery, Barr said. The thief or thieves snapped the chains connecting the metal to the gravestones and then replaced the flowers in the hole.

She was in her office on July 12 when a man who came to visit a friend's grave noticed the foot-tall vase for flowers was missing from the grave marker and several others around.

"He was appalled and most of the families who were affected were appalled that people would do something like that,'' Barr said. "They bring flowers as a memorial and to have them ripped away reignites the pain of their loss. Yes, there are dead people here, but this place is for the living.''

Barr says anyone who buys the stolen materials is an equal partner in crime. So do police, who do not have suspects in the cemetery vase thefts.

Suspects are hard to come by because of the nature of the scrap metal trade, Egeler said. Copper items usually lack serial numbers or other identifiers. Recyclers have no exact method to know if the material is stolen, and unlike pawn shops, scrap collectors do not have to ask for identification and fingerprints for police review, Egeler said.

The consensus among local police is that the recent thefts are tied to drug trade. Stealing copper items can be lucrative, with scrap copper fetching more than $3 a pound.

The state Legislature placed tougher penalties on certain entities caught buying or selling stolen copper cable, but the trade has grown beyond that to items that contain copper alloys, such as brass.

Multiple scrap and salvage companies in Washtenaw and Livingston counties were reluctant to speak to The News about the trend and some insisted volume was down compared with past years.

Craig Swenson, systems manager for the 800 MHz Consortium in Washtenaw County, said he wasn't surprised when thieves targeted the two communications towers in the emergency radio system that connects the major public safety departments. A tower at Eastern Michigan University was robbed of grounding cables and copper plates in April, he said, and the other tower in Scio Township was hit in each of the last two months. Last week, thieves cut 6 feet of grounding wire last week. There was no disruption to service.

"We were hoping we wouldn't get hit but weren't surprised because it was happening at ... cell phone towers,'' Swenson said. "Unlike them, however, we have to repair the grounding wires immediately because you want to be as best protected as you can from a lighting strike.''

What struck Swenson was that the thieves were careful not to touch live wires. Others have not been as cautious.

Six people in southeast Michigan were killed from either falls or electrocution while trying to steal live wires in 2006, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission, which in June issued a statewide alert about the increase of copper utility thefts and the potential safety risks to the thieves, employees and the public.

There is no national count of people killed in attempted copper thefts, but news accounts put the death toll at about two dozen over the past year, including an Ohio man who was electrocuted earlier this month and was found tangled in a utility line.

Art Aisner can be reached at aaisner@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6823.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: copper; drugs; drugsnotpoverty; metal; poverty; recycling; scrapyards
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I'm afraid my outrage and disgust blanked out my ability to think of keywords. This is so despicable.
1 posted on 07/22/2007 3:19:38 PM PDT by Kieri
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To: Kieri
No can/bottle type deposit required when purchasing copper yet everyone is tripping over themselves trying to recycle it.

2 posted on 07/22/2007 3:23:44 PM PDT by I see my hands (_8(|)
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To: Kieri

From what I’ve read most people who steal copper use the money mainly for Meth.


3 posted on 07/22/2007 3:26:17 PM PDT by SoldierMedic (Rowan Walter, 23 Feb 2007 Ramadi)
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To: Kieri
Ahh, yes, the compassion over illegal aliens and illegal drug use continues to pay such incredible dividends.
4 posted on 07/22/2007 3:28:10 PM PDT by kingu (No, I don't use sarcasm tags - it confuses people.)
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To: kingu

I was wondering what this thread had to do with illegal immigration. Thanks.


5 posted on 07/22/2007 3:32:24 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: I see my hands

Theft of manhole covers got to be a problem in Russia, until they started making new ones out of non-recyclable plastic.


6 posted on 07/22/2007 3:33:44 PM PDT by kylaka
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To: Kieri

Unsophisticated criminals loot businesses in the dead of night a few hundred dollars at a time.

Sophisticated criminals loot businesses in broad daylight in a court of law and take so much money they can spend a few hundred dollars at a time on haircuts while running for President.

As far as I’m concerned there isn’t a dime’s difference between them.


7 posted on 07/22/2007 3:34:37 PM PDT by CGTRWK
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To: Kieri
Six people in southeast Michigan were killed from either falls or electrocution while trying to steal live wires in 2006, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission, which in June issued a statewide alert about the increase of copper utility thefts and the potential safety risks to the thieves, employees and the public.

Payback burns.

8 posted on 07/22/2007 3:39:32 PM PDT by madison10
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To: Kieri

In our area, it’s worse. Many veteran’s flag-holders - the ones which indicate which war the veteran fought in - were stolen. They got some back when the perps went to trade them in at a local scrap yard.

Absolutely despicable!!! >:-(


9 posted on 07/22/2007 3:47:40 PM PDT by sneakers
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To: Kieri

Man they gotta buy those drugs!


10 posted on 07/22/2007 4:28:33 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Kieri

I just bought a case of ammo today and OUCH! Damn metal prices are driving the price up.


11 posted on 07/22/2007 4:42:31 PM PDT by School of Rational Thought (Your home for pithy disquistion)
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To: Kieri

This same thing always happens in third world toilets, such as Mexico. Hmmmm. Stealing the metal Americans don’t want to steal?


12 posted on 07/22/2007 5:06:23 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: kylaka
...until they started making new ones...

Great use for nuclear waste...

13 posted on 07/22/2007 5:07:33 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: Kieri
Until America’s scrap buyers have to live under Federal Rules, similar to those in the Pawn Shop industry, We are screwed.

Scrap Buyers can pay in CASH, not get ID from sellers, NOT EVEN ASK THE SELLER’S NAME, and then KEEP everything that they “bought”.

It doesn’t matter whether that the Metal was Government Property or Granny’s grave marker. Scrap Buyers have immunity and can’t be expected to keep records.

14 posted on 07/22/2007 5:13:27 PM PDT by PizzaDriver (an heinleinian/libertarian)
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To: Kieri
Until America’s scrap buyers have to live under Federal Rules, similar to those in the Pawn Shop industry, We are screwed.

Scrap Buyers can pay in CASH, not get ID from sellers, NOT EVEN ASK THE SELLER’S NAME, and then KEEP everything that they “bought”.

It doesn’t matter whether that the Metal was Government Property or Granny’s grave marker. Scrap Buyers have immunity and can’t be expected to keep records.

15 posted on 07/22/2007 5:13:38 PM PDT by PizzaDriver (an heinleinian/libertarian)
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To: Kieri

Actually, metal prices are up because environmentalists are blocking mining everywhere.


16 posted on 07/22/2007 5:14:05 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: 1rudeboy

Hmmm... There has to be a clever way to work abortion into this too.


17 posted on 07/22/2007 5:17:50 PM PDT by Redcloak (The 2nd Amendment isn't about sporting goods.)
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To: Kieri

We had a scrap yard that got into a lot of trouble buying old cars, it seemed the bank had liens of 3 or 4 cars they bought. What started out as junk wound up costing them several thousand dollars.


18 posted on 07/22/2007 5:41:35 PM PDT by amigatec (Carriers make wonderful diplomatic statements. Subs are for when diplomacy is over.)
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To: Kieri

I remember when crack hit Detroit, all the aluminum siding as high as someone could reach was being ripped off every house on the lower East-side.


19 posted on 07/22/2007 5:55:38 PM PDT by Mikey_1962 (The last Americans to allow unchecked immigration...... were Native.)
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To: PizzaDriver
FBI should go after the scrap dealers. There was massive theft of copper wire from the old AT&T transmitting site antennas (miles of wire) at Ocean Gate, NJ. Site is working towards the Historical Site designation, perhaps the last one in existence - monument to overseas communications. Just makes you sick!!!
20 posted on 07/22/2007 6:13:10 PM PDT by Leo Carpathian (ffffFReeeePeee!)
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