Thieves have moved on from catalytic converters to stealing copper wire, prosecutor says

King County prosecutors are urging lawmakers to crack down on copper wire theft as rising metal prices fuel a surge in targeted attacks on communication infrastructure. Gary Ernsdorff, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said thieves have shifted from catalytic converters to copper communication lines, leaving neighborhoods without critical services.

“Thieves are opportunistic, and as conditions change, as the economy changes, they look for different opportunities,” Ernsdorff said. “One of the things we’ve seen recently is a rise in copper prices … so the thieves are looking for an opportunity to cash in on this.”

Ernsdorff said offenders cut large spans of communication wire from utility poles, sometimes a half‑mile at a time, to strip out copper. The result, he said, is widespread disruption.

What’s impacted by copper wire theft

“That leaves entire communities without potential 911 service. Security systems aren’t monitored. Medical devices aren’t monitored,” he said. “There’s a significant impact, both on the customers and on the industry.”

Although thieves might collect only a few thousand dollars’ worth of metal, utilities can face “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in repair costs and weeks‑long outages, Ernsdorff said.

“We were very successful in some legislation a couple of years ago that has dramatically reduced, almost eliminated, the catalytic converter theft problem,” he said. “These are the opportunistic thieves that then look for a new target, and the new target is copper wire.”

Ernsdorff said evidence indicates thieves are selling stolen metal to local recycling centers. He questioned whether recyclers should be doing more to spot obviously suspicious transactions.

“If a dude came up to my dad in a ratty old pickup truck with a pair of bolt cutters and a whole bunch of four‑foot sections of communication copper wire, he could spot a thief a mile away,” Ernsdorff said. “And yet the thieves are routinely selling it out in the market, and there doesn’t seem to be any slowing them down.”

To address the problem, Ernsdorff is backing legislation modeled on existing rules for pawn shops and precious‑metal buyers. House Bill 2213 would require recyclers to photograph purchased materials, upload records to a searchable statewide database, temporarily hold materials, and allow law enforcement to seize suspected stolen goods.

“What we’re trying to do is develop a set of tools that will increase law enforcement’s effectiveness in investigating these cases,” he said. “Take a picture of what you’re buying. Upload it all to an online searchable database. Retain this metal product for a short period of time … and allow law enforcement to seize those.”

Ernsdorff said investigators cannot currently track stolen wire efficiently because records are kept individually at each recycler.

“They can’t go to every single recycler and ask to see the records from the prior week,” he said. “It’s too big of a task.”

A centralized database, he added, would provide “one‑stop shopping.” But he said some recyclers are opposing key parts of the proposal.

“They don’t want to take pictures. They really strenuously object to retaining the stolen property. They want to be able to melt down the evidence right away,” he said. “That really frustrates a criminal investigation.”

Though he did not have specific case numbers on hand, Ernsdorff said telecommunications companies “are getting hit really a lot,” with losses “in the millions of dollars.” And that is likely being passed on to consumers.

Manda Factor is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. Follow Manda on X and email her here. 

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