said by kruser :

Someone stole the copper flashing off of my Aunt's home while they were home eating dinner!
They heard this horrible noise and by the time they came outside to see, the thieves were running down the street with sheets of copper trailing behind them.
And this was well over 30 years ago!

I know many contractors and home builders in my area and I can say that I hear a new copper theft story about once per week. Mostly copper plumbing ripped out of new or rehab construction.

At my work a thief stole over $20,000 worth of direct burial irrigation control wire.
Turned out he ws caught and also one of my night employees.
He had sold the wire for scrap and at that time received just over $5,000 for it as scrap.
This was about 1 year ago.
He is now behind bars

said by G343 :

the II's are starving and have nothing better to do. This is what they do to buy their cup noodles. I can't believe this is a headline. What has America become? Since when were people this cheap and degrading to steal a copper line.

said by patcat88 :

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. This just proves it, wire stealing is out of a 3rd world country, not the USA. We have a near-3rd world utility infastructure. Maybe if VZ didnt treat WV like a unwanted stepchild ready to be spun off to the likes of Century Tel, people wouldnt treat it like shit, and remember, Fiber optic cable has little to no resale value (you cant fuse/splice together/melt and remake fiber, and when you do, you can do it a limited amount of times before there is no signal left).

said by Kearnstd :

well i was think why not find a way to up the pole voltage and then reduce it at the NID. but then i remembered that this wouldnt stop copper thieves as well 50-90v isnt going to scare people who tempt fate and try to steal from the electric company.