How Bad Has Copper Theft Gotten? Just Ask Federal Law Enforcement

The U.S. Attorney General’s Office in Atlanta and the FBI have joined the hunt to find three men accused of stealing $500,000 worth of copper from Southwire earlier this year. “Our office and the FBI are evaluating the case and will respond appropriately,” said the first assistant U.S. Attorney, but added his office does not comment on pending investigations. A police lieutenant said the suspects have been linked to two similar cases in Florida, two in Georgia and one in Texas. The thefts in Georgia and Texas were also of copper, but the Florida incident was a theft of mixed metals that included copper. Southwire brokered the shipping of the stolen materials to Associated Trucking, which posted the job onto a trucking Web site. Associated Trucking was then contacted by a group of men claiming to be from LaRolle Trucking, a legitimate company based out of Miami/Hialeah, Florida. On April 29, three men made three trips into Southwire, each time loading 43,000 pounds of copper rods onto three tractor-trailer trucks, of which LaRolle has denied ownership. Southwire had arranged for the shipment to be sent to a destination in Indiana, but it never arrived. The incident was reported to police five days after it happened and the true identity of the suspects remains unknown.

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