Nobody likes being without air conditioning.
But that’s exactly what happened in April to employees of the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Main Street in Columbus. They showed up to work one morning and walked into a sweatbox.
“Somebody cut the fencing (behind the store) and then cut the copper tubing out of the air conditioning unit,” said Salvation Army Capt. Pradeep Ramaji. “Now the customers are feeling the heat, and the employees are sweating and trying to manage with a little fan.”
According to Scrap Stop, a scrap metal information website, one HVAC unit can have up to $30 worth of copper, while the damages of ripping copper wires and tubes from a unit can cost thousands to repair.
Ramaji can attest to that. He told The Dispatch the estimates to get a new unit are well into the five figures, and, while insurance will cover a portion of the cost, the Salvation Army is still on the hook for the deductible.
“(Some of) the money we worked hard to raise and want to spend for the community, we will have to spend on this property,” Ramaji said.
A quick score
According to Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins, copper is an easy target for drug addicts looking for enough money to get their next hit.
“(Copper thieves) are usually people who are supporting a drug habit,” Hawkins said. “They don’t have a job so they’re looking for anything they can steal.”
Copper is popular because it has relatively high value to other scrap metals, Hawkins said.
According to multiple sources who spoke with The Dispatch, copper is a commonly sold commodity. Prices locally range from $2.10 to $3.10 per pound, depending on its quality and where it’s sold.
The national rate for copper sits at $3.68 per pound and has maintained a range between $2 and $4 since 2013.
As an added bonus, Hawkins said, copper also is easy to steal.
“If they go to an AC unit, it’s outside,” Hawkins said. “A couple of cuts here and there, and in five minutes they’ve stripped a whole unit and are gone. People also tend to go to abandoned houses or trailers and take the pipes and the wiring.”
Incident reports The Dispatch obtained from Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office indicate the county responded to 10 copper thefts between May 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023. Popular targets included AC window units, electrical wiring, circuit breakers and breaker boxes and even the wiring from a bucket truck.
Columbus Police Department Chief Joseph Daughtry did not provide specific numbers for copper theft in Columbus in response to a written request, but he said law enforcement is putting “a pretty good dent” in incidents of theft.
“The last one I remember was (John Musa’s) air conditioning units,” Daughtry said. “When they cut those (air conditioning) units, they’re not getting more than six or seven pieces of copper. You could hold it in two hands. That’s why they cut so many of them.”
Musa, best known as the owner of United Deli, was arrested in February after holding a man at gunpoint who he claimed was stealing copper from behind a building he owned on Alabama Street.
Musa said at the time he had suffered multiple copper thefts, with damages mounting into the tens of thousands of dollars. A GoFundMe put up to help him recover his damages raised nearly $30,000.
Starkville Police Department showed only three copper thefts between May 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023, all of which were from construction sites and involved copper tubing and wire.
Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office provided one report related to copper theft in the requested time frame.
How copper is traded
Copper is sold in a variety of forms, such as copper pipes for plumbing, wires from HVAC units, transformers, electrical motors and breaker boxes.
Sale of scrap metal, including copper, is regulated by the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office. Scrap dealers are expected to maintain records of each transaction, including the name, address and age of the seller; the date and place of acquisition of each piece of scrap; the weight, volume and description of the scrap; and the tag number and description of the vehicle transporting the scrap, among other things.
The law also forbids cash payments for scrap metal and requires a three-day wait before payment.
When it comes to selling copper at a recycling plant, businesses don’t just look at the ID and take a picture, they also look at the quality of the material, said Peter Querciagrossa, general manager at the SA Recycling plant in West Point. Some copper is turned away if it’s not clear the person bringing it has permission to sell it.
“Copper telecommunication wire that’s been burned, or usually copper telecommunication wire, is most likely stolen,” Querciagrossa said.
“Unless they come with a letterhead from the company or contractor, that usually indicates that (it’s stolen). Without the letterhead, nine times out of 10 they stole it.”
He said 90% of scrap yards’ business comes from locals looking to sell between 5 and 10 pounds of scrap, while HVAC, construction and demolition companies will come in and sell hundreds of pounds at any given time, though not usually more than 400 pounds of copper.
Roy Price, owner of P & R Scrap Metal in Columbus, said local recycling plants sell to copper and steel mills, which will use it to either make fresh copper materials or mix it with other metals to make alloys such as brass.
“Most of it will go to Birmingham,” Price said. “Some will go to some in Jackson, but just different mills.”
Price said while regulations on copper are tight, he sees about 10 instances per year where “hot copper” was brought to the business.
Querciagrossa said he has experienced three instances where stolen copper made its way through his yard.
“We don’t think it is hot, but we have purchased copper that ended up turning out to be hot,” Price said. “That does not happen very often because we nail them down so badly that they’re scared to come here with it.”
‘Some not as legitimate as others’
Daughtry said he wasn’t aware of any kind of organized black market for stolen copper.
“We don’t have an organized ring just stealing copper that I’ve seen thus far,” Daughtry said. “… But some scrap yards are not as legitimate as others. You have some that will take it and try to make some money off of it.”
Hawkins agreed, adding that it can be hard to tell what’s stolen and what isn’t once it’s in a yard somewhere.
“Once it’s in their facility and mixed with other scrap, who can tell what’s legitimate and what’s stolen?” Hawkins said. “I’m sure there’s some shady business going on, but you’ve got a lot of legitimate businesses which do things the right way and we don’t have a problem with them.”
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