Thieves see UNM as CuNM

Copper thieves have come to UNM.

According to a police report, copper lightning rods on the top level of the Yale parking structure were cut and damaged, indicating a robbery. John Schuler of UNM’s Physical Plant department estimated the cost of the damage to be between $15,000 and $20,000.

“Copper thefts have been a problem citywide,” UNMPD spokesman Lt. Robert Haarhues said. “They really haven’t hit UNM until now.”
Haarhues said copper has been stolen from contractors’ work areas on campus, but this is the first incident of a building being targeted for theft. He said copper theft is a serious problem in Albuquerque.

“People are going in empty houses within the city and stripping the wire from the walls,” he said.

CNM student Sharee Mendez works at Party City of Albuquerque, where she said there have been two attempted copper thefts in the past two years. Mendez said she and another employee were opening the store when they heard a thud on the roof and the power went out.

“They didn’t get away with the copper, but they started to strip it from the building,” Mendez said. “It knocked out the electricity.”

General Manager Therese Kelley said that in the second attempt, the would-be thieves were caught after being chased by police to a nearby Target store. Party City remained closed for the day due to the resulting power outage.

“All told, after payroll, lost sales, and repairs, we lost about $7,000-$10,000 that day,” she said.

Lt. Harold Medina of Albuquerque Police Department’s property crimes unit told KRQE earlier this year that the price of copper and its thefts might be correlated.

“During the past several months, with the increase in the price of copper we’ve steadily seen an increase in the theft of copper from various locations in the city,” he said.

*Full Disclosure: Charlie Shipley is a Party City employee.