Pubdate: Tue, 20 Jun 2006
Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Chilliwack Times
Contact:  http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357
Author: Aaron Paton

WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD

Copper plumbing is not the only smoldering pipe missing from the 
basement of a Chilliwack apartment. Thieves made off with more than 
$1,200 in copper pipes from the Pauline Apartments but left an empty 
crack bag and a makeshift crack pipe fashioned from a broken light 
bulb to show why they needed the cash.

The front door to the 20-unit complex, located at 46278 Yale Rd., is 
locked tight and an ash tray lined with syringes stands just a few 
metres away. The building is entered easily through the unlocked back 
door and a few steps down into the dark and dingy basement reveals 
staff from Sardis-Vedder Plumbing and Heating working to replace the 
plumbing. On Thursday night someone hacked the water lines from the 
spider infested roof, presumably to resell the expensive building 
materials for drugs.

"They probably got enough to get high for a weekend," said Lou 
Lullul, a plumber working for the company. "On this side they took 
the better part of 100 feet of pipe."

The price of a single foot of copper pipe has spiked dramatically in 
the past five weeks and now retails from $3 a foot for 3/4 inch to 
$56 a foot for four inch pipe. Most of the pipe stolen from Pauline 
Apartments was 3/4 inch with a few larger pieces also missing.

Lou carefully clips a bit of pipe with a tube cutter and begins to 
replace a small section.

"This is the same tool they would have used right here. That or a 
pair of tin snips," Lullul said. "I'm not taking any chances here. 
This is old pillar and post wiring and it would be easy to get 
electrocuted. Touch one of those posts and you're done. I didn't get 
this old by being stupid."

The thieves turned off the water but left the power on.

Last month a Langley man was killed by a 14,000-volt shock while 
stealing live copper hydro wire. Langley RCMP said the Surrey man, 
35, was known to police and had a criminal record.

"When you get these kinds of (price) increases the theft of copper 
pipes is bound to happen," said Lullul. "I've only seen it once 
before and that was 10 to 12 years ago. The price of copper has gone 
down and up again since then.

"We did a job in Hope and we did all the copper pipes and then Monday 
they're all gone again," Lullul said. "They're chopping them out 
faster than we're putting them in." He finishes with the tube cutter 
and begins to melt the seal with a blowtorch. Spiders scurry out of 
the way as the blue flame melts cobwebs and sauder alike. Lou points 
out little baggies on the floor and an upturned piece of a broken 
glass light bulb with a charred bottom resting on a nearby shelf.

"With something like this they should be looking at the residents," 
said Lullul. "Whoever stole these pipes had to have been in this 
basement before."

Copper theft increasing

Chilliwack RCMP have seen an increase in copper theft and reported 
thefts range from two to three per month to twice a week. Const. Bert 
Paquet said police don't consider it an epidemic.

"Usually some copper pipe or wiring has been left out on a job site 
and someone will take it... causing mischief and vandalism to get at 
the copper and start ripping it off is something new."

Often thieves steal the copper to support an addiction to drugs or 
alcohol, he added. Police have no suspects or witnesses to the theft 
at Pauline Apartments.

"What they do is they steal copper and sell it at scrap metal 
places," Paquet said. "It's hard to keep track of where stolen copper 
shows up. Most piping wouldn't have any kind of marking on it to show 
where it came from."

The only metal scrap yard listed in the Chilliwack phone book is 
located on the south side of downtown Chilliwack, a few blocks from 
Pauline Appartments. Lou Bouthot, owner of L and L Traders said he 
turns away any scrap metal that looks suspicious.

"If they're going to steal copper pipes they're not going to sell it 
here because my prices are lower," he said. "They'll go to Abbotsford 
or Surrey... I check identification too."

All scrap metal looks alike and he does buy copper pipe from time to 
time, he added.

"I don't support that kind of thing," he said. "I've had lots of 
stuff stolen from this yard... tools and stuff... maybe if they had 
better programs for druggies and homeless people this kind of thing 
wouldn't be happening."

Landlord living in hell

"This is pretty much East Hastings right here," building manager Phil 
Wolstenholme said, pointing down the arched hallway of the circa 
1930s apartment where the copper was lifted. The oak wood floors have 
been covered with dark green carpet and there are more than a couple 
of stains. The copper pipe thieves tried to smash through a wall in a 
desperate attempt to get into the basement and another door was once 
stolen right off its hinges.

Wolstenholme and assistant manager Shelly Darel said they are almost 
at the end of their rope after four years of removing squatters from 
the basement, evicting drug dealers or sex trade workers and fixing 
everything from kicked-down doors and jimmied locks to smashed mail 
boxes and broken light bulbs used as crack pipes.

"Every day I risk my life cleaning up blood and syringes," Darel 
said. "And it's like this every single day."

Most of the "action" happens late at night and Darel usually deals 
with overdoses, violent guests and other emergencies in the early 
hours of the morning.

"We have children living here and sometimes there are hookers passed 
out on the stairs doing the head shake," she said wobbling her head 
like a heavy drug user.

They have tried to evict residents but it's a long and arduous 
process if they know how to play the system.

"We evicted one (resident) two months ago and she's still living 
here. We have no idea when she'll finally be out of the apartment," 
Wolstenholme said. "When you do get new people checked out and moved 
in you don't know who you've got there until they start dealing 
drugs. Then it takes another four months to kick them out."

Wolstenholme doesn't live in the building so when he tells RCMP that 
residents are selling drugs and sex his observations are legally 
considered "hearsay" and he can't make a police statement.

"We kicked out one (drug dealer) five times because he kept getting 
his friends to rent the apartment for him," Wolstenholme said.

"And these were clean-cut guys," Darel added. "Guys you would never suspect."

"It's not our fault and it's not the owner's fault. There's just not 
much else we can do," Wolstenholme added. "Most residents don't cause 
problems."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom