According to the Metal Bulletin, weaker prices may be making copper and other metals less attractive to thieves, but the pricing plunge has not translated into weaker sentences.

A South Carolina Circuit Court handed down a 25-year prison sentence to a 39-year-old Spartanburg, S.C., man for his role in a copper theft ring. Carl Parris pleaded guilty to 13 counts of accessory after the fact of a felony, 11 counts of petty larceny and two counts of malicious injury to real property, according to a statement from the criminal prosecutor for Spartanburg and Cherokee counties and as reported by Metal Bulletin.