Copper's rising value draws thieves

Staff photo by John Ewing

Dave Kenny, an employee at the Louis Mack Company, handles copper wire at the Warren Avenue scrap metal business. Copper is a vital component in the manufacture of a host of products, and low supply has increased its value in recent years.

Copper, the common metal used in everything from cars to toasters, has become an attractive target for criminals, reflecting the fact that it has quintupled in value since 2001.

A Peru man was charged Monday with felony theft and burglary in connection with the theft of copper and brass from Dielectric Communications in Raymond, which makes telecommunications equipment.

Ralph Whalen, 50, a former employee, is accused of stealing almost $10,000 worth of the industrial metals. He was implicated after police in Mexico charged him with stealing copper scraps from outside a vacant commercial building there.

Two weeks ago, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office charged Jennifer Doiron, 30, who has been a Dielectric employee for six years, with felony theft for allegedly stealing a 1,000-pound copper rod.

Doiron loaded the rod, which is 9 feet long and 6 inches in diameter, into her pickup using a company forklift, but was unable to cut it once she got it home, police said. The person who answered the telephone Tuesday at Dielectric said the company had no comment.

"Right now, copper appears to have a very high value, so people are going to get the most bang for their buck stealing it now rather than when it's low," said Lt. Don Foss, head of the detectives' division for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities say the high price of industrial metals and the relative ease of selling them as scrap is responsible for a wave of recent thefts. The lucrative market for scrap copper, brass and aluminum also is attracting a more sophisticated thief.

"In years past, the caliber of criminal stealing scrap metal was the same kind of person who might be walking down the street collecting cans," said Portland Police Lt. Vern Malloch. "Now we're seeing more adept criminals . . . a career burglar for 10 years who realizes he can steal metal and make money."

Burglars have twice cut a fence at Central Maine Power Co.'s facility on Canco Road and both CMP and Verizon have reported thefts of copper wire from their Portland facilities in the past month.

"It's been a bigger problem this year than in the past," said CMP spokesman John Carroll. "When people steal from our facilities, it creates very dangerous conditions."

At least five deaths in the United States have been attributed to thieves being electrocuted while trying to steal wire. Thieves have stolen copper church bells in Yonkers, N.Y., and aluminum bleachers in Ohio.

In Maine, two men were arrested in Washington County last month for breaking into homes to steal copper and brass fittings; four people were arrested for attempted theft of copper wire from a junkyard in Meddybemps.

The crimes have led companies to secure their scrap metal piles and work with local police departments to deter theft.

At the heart of the copper crime wave are the booming economies of China and India.

Copper is the cheapest conductor of electricity and resists corrosion, which makes it good for pipes. It is a vital component in the manufacture of a host of products, and construction of a typical house requires about 400 pounds of copper, said Dan Vaught, a futures analyst with A.G. Edwards in St. Louis.

"Autos, electronics, pretty much any type of machine, the wiring in it is probably going to be copper," Vaught said.

The price of copper was just 69 cents a pound in 2001. The low prices stifled development of new mines, which can take several years to bring into production, Vaught said.

Low supply and high demand lead to high raw-material prices, and since copper can be easily recycled, high prices for scrap, which satisfies about 12 percent of the world copper market. One Portland yard is paying $2 per pound for scrap copper.

Whalen allegedly sold the copper taken from Dielectric to scrap yards in Oxford County and New Hampshire, Foss said.

Unlike stolen electronics or other products, metal can be hard to trace or even identify. Recycling copper and other metals also is a thriving legitimate business. Many companies like Dielectric regularly sell the scrap they produce to a dealer.

Alan Lerman, of E. Perry Iron and Metal Co. in Portland, said his company gets identification from all of its sellers to establish a paper trail. Most of his business is commercial accounts, companies selling the scrap they generate, but he and his employees also keep their eyes out for suspicious loads.

"If I suspect something is not proper, I won't buy it," Lerman said. "If you have a bunch of kids selling industrial copper, you know."

Foss said the investigation into thefts at Dielectric's sprawling manufacturing facility continues. Another Dielectric employee, David LeBlond, was issued a court summons Tuesday on charges of theft after he was found in possession of more than 100 pounds of stolen copper, police said.

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