BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – It’s been a month since we first told you about copper thefts plaguing Raleigh County, and no one is immune.
The new Amazon construction site off Airport Road in Beaver is the latest copper casualty.
According to the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office, they are working to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“A large amount of copper was stolen, and some working tools that are very valuable,” said Chief of Detectives Sgt. Gary D. Epling. “Eventually, they’re going to get caught. It’s just a matter of when. So we’re trying to get all the evidence we possibly can to conduct a very thorough investigation.”
The criminal element only cares about quick money and not about how they go about getting it. Epling says there are now laws on the books regarding copper.
“There are different avenues we go through to find out, especially about the amount of copper, which results in different kinds of felonies. And we are looking at the businesses as well,” the chief of detectives said. “When you start locking these people up, it might send out a message. Raleigh County is a big county, and it’s hard being everywhere at one time.”
The copper thefts affect everybody.
“Out of service for, let’s say, wifi. I mean, they’re cutting these lines down; they don’t care about endangering themselves, and they don’t care for other people,” said Epling.
Community and other agency tips can really help.
“Sometimes they know a little bit too much information. So we have to work from the outside in and from the inside out,” the chief of detectives said. “The luck of the draw. You might get that one piece of the puzzle that might solve it. And this doesn’t happen overnight. It can take weeks, sometimes months.”
