Pubdate: Wed, 15 Mar 2006
Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Copyright: 2006 Daily Press
Contact: http://www.vvdailypress.com/contact/
Website: http://www.vvdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1061
Author: Katherine Rosenberg, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

WIRED FOR DRUGS

Recycling Sting Nets 18 Arrests

VICTORVILLE - After a lengthy investigation into  hundreds of copper 
theft reports, the detectives at the  Victorville Sheriff's station 
thought they'd try  something new.

They sat back and let the criminals come to them.

During a day-long operation at a local recycling center  Monday, the 
team arrested 18 individuals on various  charges such as possession 
of a controlled substance,  outstanding warrants and being a parolee 
at large. And, of course, there were arrests for possession of stolen 
property, namely copper.

Theft of the metal has been on the rise since the  beginning of the 
year and authorities estimate that the  majority of the crimes are 
committed to score drugs.  Most recently there have been dozens of 
break-ins at  housing units on the former George Air Force Base by 
thieves trying to find copper pipes.

Drug  addicts who need their $20 worth of meth are going to 
construction sites to get what copper they can to  recycle. They 
would do that, get their drugs and in a  day or two they'd be back 
trying to steal. It spread  through the drug community as a way to 
get quick cash  for drugs," Detective Sergeant Bobby Hughes of the 
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Victorville station said  Tues- day.

"The common denominator here is methamphetamine and the  theft of 
wire," added Detective John Wickum.

In fact, a methamphetamine lab was uncovered last week  on Topango 
Road as a direct result of the investigation  into theft of copper 
wire, Wickum said.

Another facet of the investigation recently led to a  ring of five 
copper thieves, who have since been  arrested, who were stealing so 
much copper on a regular  basis that they were making a living at it.

Detectives decided to set up shop at a recycling center  to see who 
would come in.

"We just talked to people about the stolen copper  problem when they 
entered. Nine out of 10 people said  they heard about it or read 
about it. And in the course  of that, we found a lot of people with 
drugs and wire,"  Hughes said.

On Monday the center, which is not being named, was  offering about 
$2.80 per pound of copper, Hughes said.  That amount was slightly 
higher than other area showing  five feet that is coated to protect 
the copper from the  dirt was recovered during the operation. That 
material  is believed to have come from the Barstow area.

Because it is meant to be used only by large commercial  contractors 
it was clear that the copper cable was  stolen, officials said. They 
also recovered a  significant amount of commercial telephone wire 
that was stolen.

"Anything that looks like wire, they're cutting it.  They don't even 
know what they're stealing," Hughes  said, explaining that the 
telephone wire is useless.

Detectives also found that in order to pass off new and  stolen 
copper as "believable," thieves have begun  burning the copper to 
make it look older and used. Many  types of copper wire also have a 
plastic casing on  them, and Hughes said since the metal is worth 
more  with that casing removed, throwing the metal into a  bonfire 
quickly removes the plastic and ages the metal.

"Since they thought cops were looking for new wire  they're trying to 
make their wire look old. Now they  can say they found it on the side 
of the road. That's  what the crooks are telling us," Hughes said. 
"They get  less money per pound for it because it's not clean but 
they think they won't get questioned for it."

The technique obviously didn't fool authorities who  also recovered 
large amounts of burned copper wire on  Monday.

Of the 18 people arrested, two were parolees at large  and 11 had 
warrants out for their arrest.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman