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AT&T offers $10,000 to help catch copper-wire thieves

August 18th, 2008, 4:27 pm · 11 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

AT&T offers $10,000 reward on copper-wire theft informationStealing copper wiring from the telephone poll (My bad!) pole down the street is one way to make money fast. But for companies like AT&T, such theft is a major headache because it then has to buy new cables, pay for repairs and deal with unhappy customers whose service was disrupted.

AT&T California said today it is offering up to $10,000 for “information that helps identify and prosecute those responsible” for cutting and stealing its cables.

Thieves sell the copper to scrap metal companies, which buy them for between $1.50 to $3 a pound, says Stewart Shirk, director of security at DBW Metals Recycling in Anaheim. The lucrative market has at least two California legislators working on a law to tighten the rules on the sale and payment of scrap metal (AB 844 and SB 691).

Shirk said that if he knows that the copper or metal is stolen, he won’t accept it. But people still try. Last June, a man with a bandaged right arm walked in trying to sell him ground wire that was obviously from Edison. Shirk told the guy he was calling Edison and could come back the next night. The man did! Shirk had to call the cops — the guy probably didn’t mind the police intervention because he was badly in need of medical attention, Shirk assumed.

According to AT&T, copper-wire thievery has occurred in San Diego, Riverside, Lake Tahoe, Grass Valley, Fresno/Visalia, Vallejo, and Stockton. The amount has varied from less than 100 feet to more than 1,000 feet.

Stealing the wires can also be dangerous. An AT&T spokeswoman who responded to my questions, said thieves must climb a telephone pole to cut the wires!

“This is incredibly dangerous. The wires often have a high degree of tension, and when they are cut there is the potential for a pole to snap or break.  In addition, our lines usually co-exist with electric wires.  If a thief comes in contact with the wrong wire, the results could be tragic,” said Katie Farnam, with AT&T.

Farnham adds one note: AT&T’s cable is not dangerous, but often times other cables on the same pole can cause serious injury or death.

Anyone with information can tip off AT&T at  1-800-807-4205.

If you’re sniffing for clues, here are some recent copper-wire theiving headlines:

Read the complete press release here.

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 11 Comments

  • Pete says:
    August 18, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    telephone poll? wtf?!

  • dodo says:
    August 18, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    spell check will not catch poll vs. pole!

  • balanlay says:
    August 18, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    is this the indian proofreading service?

  • jack says:
    August 18, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    is this really a major newspaper publication with millions of subscribers? recession is in full effect. sorry. gotta cut costs nowadays i suppose.

  • dave says:
    August 18, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    eric caron rules.

  • domingo says:
    August 18, 2008 at 6:50 pm

    (”pole,” not “poll”)

    Yes, scrap metal sellers should be required to provide I.D., thumbprint, and a waiting period similar to that of gun purchasers.

    Like most things, the simplest solution is the best solution.

  • Heather says:
    August 18, 2008 at 7:35 pm

    I had some theives steal my truck’s tailgate once. These scrap metal companies need to reject such items.

  • Gadgetress says:
    August 18, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    I wish we did have copy editors reading everything published online. We can’t or else we’d have very few stories posted per day. (Although I, obviously, could use it.) Every blog post does get read by an editor. Unfortunately, this error got by both of us. My mistake but I can’t promise it won’t happen again. I could offer a poll to see who thinks I’ll flub up ‘poll’ vs. ‘pole’ again? — Gadgetress

  • John S. says:
    August 19, 2008 at 10:09 am

    Photos and fingerprints will do little or nothing to prevent thefts. Crooks will burn the insulation off which makes the wire unrecognizable and increases value. I worked at a factory in Stanton that made transformers. Thieves took several spools of wire (even before it was so expensive). In an unrelated incident the sheriff had entered a house behind us and found the residents burning wire in the fireplace. We could not prove it was ours even though we reported the same gauge that was burned was stolen.

  • dave says:
    August 21, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    For metal theft, a huge deterrent is simple, require an ID containing an address where a check will be mailed in 30 days. Many thieves need the money quickly for drugs, possibly no stable address, and suffer paranoia so don’t fwant their names and addresses on a database. If some scrap yards will institute this method, I will be happy to examine their records from time to time to discover patterns that may indicate stolen material. For me the $10K from AT&T would be worth
    about three months hard work. In fact, come to think of it, the metal thieves should report each other… $10K would buy lots of drugs.