Police say the perpetrators have been identified
By Bob Bumcrot
On the night of January 29, two men were recorded on videotape stealing copper gutters and downspouts in Norfolk. The metal was removed from the Church of Christ and other nearby sites, and loaded into a small truck. The short videotape of the theft can be viewed by searching “copper theft, Norfolk, Conn” on the Norfolk Emergency Management site on Facebook.
According to Norfolk Resident Trooper Greg Naylor, the perpetrators have been identified. Their names will be released once arrest warrants have been executed.
Thefts of copper and other metals have greatly increased over the last two years driven, perhaps, by high levels of unemployment, but also by the extraordinary increase in the price of scrap copper. From a value of $1.25 a pound in 2009, the price reached an all-time high of $4.50 in 2011 and now stands at $3.40.
Copper and allied metals thefts are occurring all across the country. At least 9,000 thefts have been reported over the last decade. Below are a few local examples.
State police are investigating the theft, reported on February 10, of copper gutters and downspouts from the Colebrook Congregational Church.
A Winsted couple, Ted Petremont and Nicole Wanklin, were convicted in 2011 of stealing copper and wiring from two buildings in Winsted and were sentenced to five years in prison, suspended after two years with three years of probation.
On February 21, police in Thomaston arrested Leslie McCormick, 43, of Bristol for the theft of a variety of metal parts from the Naugatuck Railroad Co. maintenance facility. A second suspect, Aaron Fawsett, 35, also of Bristol, was charged in September. A third suspect remains at large.
On February 20, police arrested Louis Peduto, a 56 year old homeless man, for the theft of $160,000 worth of bronze nameplates, vents and handles from the busy St. Raymond’s Cemetery on Throgs Neck in the Bronx.
Most metal thefts take place at construction sites, communications towers, electrical substations and vacant buildings. The cost of repairs and replacement occasioned by the thefts greatly exceed the resale value of the stolen metals. The U. S. Department of Energy estimates losses of at least $1 billion per year.
Perhaps the most rational approach to mitigation of scrap theft would be enactment of laws requiring strict record keeping at recycling companies. Unfortunately, the Copper Theft Prevention Act, introduced in both houses of Congress in 2008, never made it out of committee. But at least 33 states, including Connecticut, have enacted legislation requiring strict record keeping, identification requirements and proof of ownership.
Standard police work, especially when video tape evidence is available, is often effective. Varying types of sting operations have been employed to check on scrap dealer compliance.
Residents insisting on displaying their half-size replica of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s famous Baptistry doors, termed “the gates of paradise,” on garden gates, might well want to consider installation of both video cameras and an alarm system.