Nov 11, 2008 10:05 am US/Pacific
Caught On Tape: Metal Thieves Cost You Tax Dollars
LOS ANGELES
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A security camera at the DWP catches a metal thief exiting the property.
CBS
The security cameras capture thief after thief after thief! Stealing precious metals that sometimes cost taxpayers big bucks.
How much? They're often sold to scrap metal dealters—like we did with our hidden cameras.
"There's nothing else I can say. Ask you to leave this is private property."
This metal isn't scrap any longer. When prices are reaching peaks, the thieves are reaching out for anything they can.
In Santa Clarita, a bandana'ed bandit searches for his loot at a metal yard.
In this case, the security cameras show it all. The haul is so profitable that these bandits hit this place in the morning and came back at night, taking 55 gallons of metal, worth about $3,000.
"You can blame it on the economy, but for a lot of these guys this is their livelihood and that's all they do is go out and steal metal."
But it's the public utilities that are getting hit the hardest. In Monrovia, at this Edison yard in the middle of the night, watch these two guys roll away a spool of valuable copper cable. They take it to their van and load it up and make their getaway.
In Sylmar at this DWP facility, a thief cuts the locks on the gate, goes inside and steals another one of those cable spools.
And in the same DWP facility another day, someone drives a truck inside and steals an even larger copper cable spool. They get away with it, but taxpayers get stuck.
"All the people paying their bills and watching the rates go up, they're the ones that end up paying for this."
L.A. Sheriff's Detective Dave Chapman's job is to track down the stolen metal—and he's seen it all.
"Wires from utility companies, plaques from gravesites, statues, anything that can be stolen."
And where does it all end up? Thieves take to scrap yards where unscrupulous dealers but it for pennies on the dollar then melt it down, cut it up and sell it for a quick buck.
"How much you give me for this?"
We sent someone in undercover to this scrap metal dealer in L.A. We gave him a fire extinguisher, a plaque that was clearly from a building and pieces of those copper utility cables. They asked for I.D., which is required by law.
"I don't have my I.D. on me."
But when we told them we didn't have it they still went ahead.
"Give me a good price on this. You have no I.D. and want a good price. For these I can give you $30 a pound."
They unload the goods after a deal is struck.
They bought everything, but the fire hydrant. For some reason they didn't want that, but paid $47 for the copper cables and plaque. And even made up an address on our receipt, which is against the law.
"I'm David Goldstein."
This woman admitted purchasing it.
"Yeah, that's right."
But her daughter denied it.
"We're following the rules. Ask for I.D. no you didn't have to ask you to leave."
But not every scrap yard is like that.
"This is stainless steel."
Doug Kramer of Kramer Metals says he sees people trying to sell stolen items every day.
"Whenever something that we suspect is stolen we put it off to the side and call sheriffs and get the property returned."
"How much?"
But that perhaps is the exception—not the rule. As these security cameras show, the thieves will stop at nothing, and all of us are paying the bill.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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