Men trying to steal power lines shocked!

Men trying to steal power lines shocked!

apnews.myway.com

CONFLUENCE, Pa. (AP) - Two Somerset County men are charged with trying to steal live power lines that were still attached to a transformer and utility poles.

Police said Kevin Lee Lytle, 27, and Daniel Jay Basinger, 24, both of Confluence, were shocked during the theft attempt on May 3 in Lower Turkeyfoot Township.

Both were charged Wednesday, but only Basinger was well enough to attend his arraignment on the attempted theft charge.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The stealing of copper is getting out of hand. Just last week my offices security guard was telling me he guards power sub stations on nigths because of copper theft! And he has atleast 2-3 groups of people try it each night.

And now the 2nd story, of people trying to steal the copper right from the live source. All to recycle it to fill the gas tank im gessing. Great economy we have at the moment.

apnews.myway.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 5/16/08 by Cyprex]

What kind of moron tries to steal a live power line? Idiots.

I can't remember exactly how much its worth, but its quite expensive. There was a case in this area a few years back where someone stole one section worth about $25,000. Needless to say, they were planning on doing a lot more than filling the ol' gas tank, I would imagine.

That is shocking news......

Pffft idiots... Lucky they weren't killed.

I really shouldn't laugh at people's misfortune, but that's the equivalent of somebody trying to steal lions teeth from a very big lion!

hahaha

It's a huge problem all over the country now..

FERC is considering it the number one danger for the interruption of the power grid.

Copper is selling for around $2.50 to $3.00 a pound as scrap and the really high quality as much as $5.00...

Several states have instituted legislation to regulate the purchase of copper more closely, but this is a fairly new phenomenon and the states are currently playing catch up.

Semper

reply to post by Cyprex



I'm really surprised that this kind of things are happening in the US. I live in Costa Rica for quite some time now and those things are quite common here but CR is still a 3rd world country. A few weeks ago I heard my dogs barking in the backyrd , was like 3 am, woke up and saw a guy hanging from the lamp post trying to cut the power line.

Is really sad to see what people are doing just to get few extra bucks.


Regards

The exact same thing happened in my area a couple of weeks ago. I actually thought the thread was going to be about that incident. I guess this is going on all over the place.

Originally posted by Cyprex

Men trying to steal power lines shocked!

apnews.myway.com

CONFLUENCE, Pa. (AP) - Two Somerset County men are charged with trying to steal live power lines that were still attached to a transformer and utility poles.

Police said Kevin Lee Lytle, 27, and Daniel Jay Basinger, 24, both of Confluence, were shocked during the theft attempt on May 3 in Lower Turkeyfoot Township.

Both were charged Wednesday, but only Basinger was well enough to attend his arraignment on the attempted theft charge.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This was to be expected.
High unemployment. People standing around with lots of spare time on their hands.
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Some of those transformers are REALLY heavy.
A smart copper thief would find a small transformer on a remote road.
Cut down the telephone pole. Short out the power.
A hand full of those mylar balloons should do the trick.
Throw a grounding strap on it when it's on the ground.
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Good luck moving that monster around. Watch your toes.
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A smart utility company would install only large and HEAVY transformers everywhere.

It's a regular occurring thing even in my street - smack bang in a leafy English little village.
Every night there's the smell of someone burning the plastic off wire to get the copper out.

reply to post by semperfortis


This reminds me of the - catalytic converter - theft epidemic.
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Thieves wanted the platinum in the converter.
I think car makers switched to palladium.
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Desperate times breed desperate actions.


I wonder what's next?