Renton police make several copper wire theft arrests

Renton police said they made several arrests with “criminals going to extreme lengths to steal (copper) wire” over the past few days.

On Saturday just before 10 a.m., officers were called to a construction site near the 300 block of Edmonds Avenue Southeast. A concerned resident called 911 after seeing two men taking copper cable from a Puget Sound Energy work site, police said.

When police arrived, they found a 64-year-old man from Ravensdale and a 56-year-old man from Kent pulling a rope that was hooked to some copper power cable.

Police said the cable had been cut between power towers, which was not an active power line. The cable was hung in a tree, where a 39-year-old Auburn man was seen with a climbing harness and a cordless saw, “apparently preparing to cut the cable free,” according to authorities.

All three men were arrested for first-degree attempted theft.

On the same day, police were called after 2:10 p.m. to the 2900 block of Southeast Royal Hills Drive for a report of a theft in progress.

A resident in the area called 911 after seeing two men taking copper cable near Beacon Way Southeast, police said.

When police arrived, they found two men, a 53-year-old SeaTac man and a 46-year-old Burien man, with chainsaws, reciprocating saws, ropes, and a generator.

Police said the two men had cut six copper cables free from a Puget Sound Energy tower and were pulling some cables free from a tree with a rope.

One of the men was arrested on a Department of Corrections warrant and the other was questioned and later released.

Both men are facing second-degree theft charges, police said.

The following morning, police said a 44-year-old man was found about 75 feet up a power line tower near the Brighton Ridge apartments after a resident called 911 to report a man was using a saw to take items from the tower.

That man was booked into jail for theft after he attempted to hide a portable bandsaw some 50 feet up the tower, authorities said.

Police said they arrested another man who was seen on Tuesday morning in a suspicious car in the area of Southeast Third Street and Edmonds Avenue Northeast.

When police first arrived at the scene to question the man, they saw cordless saws and climbing harnesses in the car but could not arrest him because they did not have probable cause, officials said.

However, the man had a felony warrant due to a weapons charge and was arrested.

A detective with the Renton Police Department, Robert Onishi, tells KIRO Newsradio that the surge in copper-theft arrests is attributable to the relatively high price of the metal, as well as the problem of few restrictions on scrap yards to check identification before accepting the copper.

Onishi encourages members of the public to call 911 if suspicious activity is seen. Maintenance crews are identifiable by marked vehicles, whereas recently reported copper thefts have been associated with thieves driving older, dilapidated vehicles missing obvious identifying logos.

KIRO Newsradio contributed to this report.

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