Jan. 08--Dec. 18: 2200 block of O Street, Sacramento. "Officers responded to calls of two hazards where the manhole covers had been removed. City crews responded and replaced them." -- Sacramento police report
The region is under assault by metal thieves, with copper wiring being stripped from utility poles and air conditioning units, brass plaques being pried from monument walls, and manhole covers and wastewater drains being plucked from city streets.
So where is it all going?
The most obvious prospect might be your neighborhood recycling center, where mountains of crushed soda cans, water bottles and piles of twisted metal and copper abound.
But that isn't necessarily the case.
Recyclers operate under strict laws that regulate what they can legally take in, and in some cases impose a waiting period on when they can pay customers for scrap.
Authorities are launching a new push to rein in the problem. Starting Monday, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department will assign a detective full time to deal with the metal-theft epidemic, and within a month it plans to offer a program for recycling centers to upload records of their purchases daily to sheriff's officials.
Other agencies also are ramping up efforts to arrest repeat metal thieves and share intelligence about them.
For some recyclers, the efforts can't come soon enough.
"Ten years ago, we were like the original green business," said Kelly Durose, an owner of D.C. Metals & Recycling in North Highlands. "But as soon as you tell people now you're a recycler, it's like, 'Oh, you're the guy who buys all the stolen copper.'
"No, actually I'm not. But we've kind of gone from the ultimate environmentalist to, man, we're the bottom of someone's shoe."
Durose, whose 3-acre recycling center has been open since 1992 and employs 15 people, has made great efforts to avoid taking in stolen materials.
He installed a $60,000 video and computer system to keep tabs on every aspect of the recycle yard, including video monitoring of the stalls and the counter where customers come to get paid.
Customers cashing in recyclables must provide a fingerprint; their driver's licenses are copied and entered into a database.
They are photographed and their license plates are recorded. If they come in with more than $20 worth of copper or some other valuable metal, they are given two choices: come back in three days for the money, or let D.C. Metals mail it to the address on their license.
These efforts all stem from a 2008 law designed to slow the pace of metal thefts.
But, with copper prices over $3 a pound and scrap metal particularly valuable during lean economic times, that hasn't happened.
Dec. 29-Jan. 3: "Someone stole copper water pipes from outside a business in the 2000 block of Taylor Road." -- Roseville police report
The items that stream into recycling centers run the gamut: old barbecue grills, pots and pans, television sets and monitors, even cheap strands of Christmas lights that no longer work.
More problematic are the tangled masses of electrical wiring, metal plates and other items that sometimes require yard workers to become amateur detectives before they accept a load.
"It's not a crime to possess copper," Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Joachim said. "And wires don't have serial numbers. Unless we catch them in the act (of stealing the metal), it's hard to figure out."
At D.C. Metals, for instance, vehicles rolling in with bundles of wiring are stopped and the drivers are asked if they are an electrician or work for one. They are asked for proof that they have a reason to be selling the material.
"You'd be surprised at some of the stories they tell," Durose said. "If I had a guy who came in with 200 pounds of copper wire I didn't think he should have and I ask him where he got it, he says, 'I found it on the side of the road.'
"Generally, with those customers, we've found it just easier to point them toward the gate."
Other times, Durose said, he has had people come in hoping to find pilfered items before they are recycled. Recently, a man showed up looking for aluminum shutters that had been stolen, and Durose said his workers found they had been purchased and were still in the yard.
It's not always so easy.
Last month, officials discovered that five brass plaques had been pried from a wall at Patriots Park in Carmichael.
The large, heavy plaques, inscribed with the names of former Carmichael residents killed as members of the military or law enforcement or medical agencies, likely would raise suspicion at any recycling center.
Detectives say the suspect in the case, Casey Ryan Alger, took great pains to disguise their origin.
Joachim said Alger, 37, is believed to have spent two days working on one of the plaques with a grinder inside the garage of a friend's home, then cut it into smaller pieces.
The result was a blank piece of brass Alger allegedly was able to sell at Capital City Recycling for $43.70.
But workers at the recycling center had seen pictures of the plaques in a Bee story about the theft, and one of them waved down a passing patrol car to report his suspicions about the pieces they had just bought.
Alger was arrested on charges of receiving stolen property and petty theft. He told deputies he got the plaques off a homeless man for a pack of cigarettes, Joachim said.
The whereabouts of the other four plaques remain a mystery.
Dec. 28, 1600 block of N Street, Sacramento: "Officers responded to report of two missing manhole covers from the alley. No suspects and no additional information." -- Sacramento police report
Authorities say they believe most recycling companies try to avoid taking in stolen material.
"It's not like they're (flouting) the law," Joachim said. "They generally operate within the law."
But there is so much material coming in, it is difficult to catch all the stolen scrap, even for the most vigilant recycling centers.
"No matter what the law says, the bottom line is unless you put a cop at every single recycling yard every hour they're open, you're not going to stop it," Durose said. "It still comes down to the recycler to do the right thing."
Last year, Joachim walked in undercover to five recycling centers with a bucketful of scrap metal that should have raised suspicion. Four of the centers demanded ID; one happily purchased the metal for $67, no questions asked, and ended up being cited.
But the rampant pace of the thefts is forcing stronger efforts, including the assignment of a sheriff's detective full time to metal thefts.
The department also is providing a new service for scrap recyclers and pawn shops to electronically upload daily reports on their purchases to the department.
"The system has a lot of capabilities," sheriff's Capt. Phil Brele said. "You can tell it, 'Give me the No. 1 person who sold metal in Sacramento County in the last 30 days.'
"Coupled with technology and a person dedicated to the pawn shops and recycling, we expect big gains."
Sacramento police have three detectives who work copper thefts, Sgt. Andrew Pettit said, and are cooperating with sheriff's officials and other departments to curb the thefts.
But the pace isn't slowing.
Sacramento city officials sometimes run out of replacement manhole covers, especially over weekends, when they are frequently taken.
Over New Year's weekend, for instance, 50 were stolen. On Friday, the city had 16 in reserve, spokeswoman Jessica Hess said.
Replacing each stolen manhole cover costs the city $165. Thieves who can find a place to recycle a stolen one may earn $11.
Call The Bee's Sam Stanton, (916) 321-1091.
Copyright 2012 - The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
