Copper thieves are now climbing poles - sheriff's department asks for the public's help

Photo courtesy Berger Recycling

From the office of the King County Sheriff

In a new twist to the theft of copper and other metals, thieves are now climbing telephone poles to get to the copper wires.

Thieves have struck at least three times in the last five weeks, just in the King County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction alone.  

These thefts were all in south King County, but as we saw with the recent bank robberies, distance is not an issue for thieves.


Recent incidents:

• On May 2, about 250 feet of telephone cable was cut down from poles in the 3200 block of S 162nd St in SeaTac. At least 330 telephone customers were affected.
• On May 11, about 330 feet of cable was cut in the 23200 block of 156th Ave NE in unincorporated King County, affecting 300+ customers. The cable was 2” to 3” in diameter and included a guide wire that supported the thick cable.
• On June 2, about 150 feet of cable was cut down in near S 128th and 12th Ave S in the city of Burien. 

According to CenturyLink (formerly Qwest), these thefts are happening frequently in the Seattle Metro area, in addition to the cases listed above.

“The cost is more than financial, as these outages impact customer service and safety”, says Sue Anderson, vice president and general manager of CenturyLink in Seattle. “Hospitals, schools, and public safety organizations are all affected as well as residential and business customers. We urge the public to call law enforcement if they see suspicious activity”.

The Sheriff's Office echoes those concerns, and is asking for the help of the public to stop these thieves.

Legitimate line workers will be driving branded vehicles and wear CenturyLink or Qwest clothing. They will also have typical safety equipment such as orange vests and hard hats. There will be flaggers if the road is blocked plus orange cones and traffic signage.

If the public sees workers without this equipment, acting suspiciously, or working at odd hours, they are asked to call 9-1-1 immediately.

Detectives believe the stolen wire is sold to metal recyclers who either aren’t asking the right questions, or are looking the other way during these transactions.

Per state law, scrap metal recyclers are required to collect records of each transaction, including the license plate and description of the vehicle used to deliver the metal, along with the current, government issued identification from the seller, along with other checks and balances.