When Valley thieves desperate for cash are after copper and other metals they can sell quickly, locks and fences don't stop them.
"We've got $40,000 worth of fence around our yard. They go over it, they go under it, or they go through it," said Dan Reid, general manager at H&H Utility Contractors in Meridian.
A multiagency sting Wednesday at six metal recycling companies in Nampa and Caldwell was aimed at stopping - or at least slowing down - sales of recyclable metals stolen from Valley businesses and homes.
Seven employees were charged with misdemeanor failure to keep required records of purchases of scrap and were jailed in Canyon County on $500 bond.
"We identified them specifically as purchasing recyclables and not taking proper ID," Caldwell Police Chief Chris Allgood said. "We're not targeting companies. ... Our target is still the people stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of metal from people from around the county."
The most sought-after metal in the Valley is copper, which has been on the rise for months and is selling for $3 to $4 a pound, according to published reports. But aluminum also is disappearing.
Copper wire is stolen from utility trucks, power poles and substations. Copper pipe was stolen from the Caldwell YMCA when it was being built a few years ago.
"It's also places you wouldn't even think," Allgood said. "We're having farmers lose aluminum sprinkler pipe. ... They're stealing the big heavy copper electrical cable that runs to big pivot sprinklers. They're cutting the cables off the crushers at gravel pits. It's surprising."
John Cragin, manager at G&B Redi-Mix in Nampa, said one of the company's vacant batch plants was hit by metal thieves last year.
"They had come in there and stripped all the copper out of it," said Cragin, who was unsure of the value of what was stolen.
Metal thieves in the Valley are often meth addicts and other drug users, Allgood said.
"They have a lot of time on their hands, and they can search all this stuff out," he said.
Copper wire theft from Idaho Power Co. has increased during the past six months, said spokeswoman Anne Alenskis.
She said the thefts are damaging, expensive and a safety concern.
"The cost to replace the damage they do is incredible," Alenskis said.
She's not just talking about replacement of the lost copper wire, but fixing the damage to cut substation fences. It's a safety issue because of concern about children and others entering through holes in fences.
"We are getting ready to put signs at facilities for people to call Crime Stoppers if they see suspicious behavior near Idaho Power facilities," Alenskis said.
Theft of recyclable metals is a worldwide problem.
"The crime is so pervasive that last year the Association of Chief Police Officers set up a dedicated Conductive Metal Thefts Working Group. Theft of metal has been described as the most serious threat to Britain's railways apart from terrorism," according to Britain's Guardian newspaper on March 20.
Metal theft in Phoenix has risen by more than 400 percent since 2003, causing damages of more than $7.2 million last year, according to a March article in U.S News & World Report.
Allgood said that since 2006, Canyon and Owyhee counties have taken more than 275 reports of metal theft. The reported loss so far is in excess of $485,000.
Andrea Dearden, a spokeswoman for the Ada County Sheriff's Office, said the county gets, on average, two metal theft reports a month.
Monthly figures for the city of Boise were not immediately available Wednesday evening, but Boise police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said one business was hit twice in the past two months.
"What we've seen in Boise city is if there's a lot of construction sites using it, it has a tendency to walk away," she said.
Hightower said metal thefts have slowed along with residential construction.
Allgood said there is no evidence that the recycling company employees arrested Wednesday were conspiring with thieves bringing in stolen metal to sell for cash.
He said they had simply been caught buying metals without following the legally mandated procedure, including taking down the seller's name and driver's license information.
Allgood said the sting - in the works for a couple weeks - was done only after business owners and employees were notified of proper procedures. Nampa and Caldwell police, as well as the Canyon County Sheriff's Office, were involved in the bust.
"We notified everyone in writing several months ago," Allgood said. "In Caldwell, we provided training to owners and employees on what was expected in Idaho code."
Arrested were: Tammi Ruesink, 38, Nampa; Jerry D. Nowland, 46, Nampa; Brandon P. Ellis, 23, Nampa; Todd Spangenberg, 38, Meridian; Johnnie Taylor Jr., 38, Nampa; Philip L. Weitz, 76, Caldwell; Guy R. Pilote, 58, Caldwell.
Reid, the manager at H&H Utility in Meridian, said the efforts of a multi-agency task force aimed at curbing thefts have been very successful. They've conducted stakeouts and assisted with video surveillance.
"They have really slowed them down," said Reid, who hasn't had a theft in a couple months.
Reid said he and his crew have come to work to find the yard littered with empty copper wire reels. He estimated each 60-pound reel of copper wire could fetch $200 to $300 or more - and the price is rising.
"Basically, it's always happened," Reid said of the thefts of copper wire reels, which are locked in the back of the company's utility trucks.
"It gets a lot worse as the prices of the precious metal goes up."
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
