The copper thefts are driven by meth heads. And they have been doing this for at least ten years or more. We bought a foreclosed flip house about 10 years ago. By the time we got the deal closed, the AC unit was cut off from the house and stolen.
Before I retired the company I worked for was located next to an A/C company/contractor. They had quite a stockpile of old a/c units which they had replaced. They had a constant problem with people scaling their fence and pilfering the copper from the old units. On one occasion there was a witness who was able to id the thief’s vehicle. The police were waiting at the scrap yard the next morning when he showed up. He was arrested, charged, booked, and bonded out. That night, someone in the area noticed a theft in the A/C company’s yard once again. It was the same guy!