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Thieves destroyed scores of air conditioners at the St. Thomas More School in order to get at the copper inside. Those metal thefts are growing in popularity everywhere, including here in the Triangle.
Today, the soft whirr of temporary air conditioners is heard as those units sit atop the roof of the school. They were rushed in after thieves tore apart the school's old air conditioners.
"School was to start on Tuesday, so we had to scramble to get some of the units temporarily fixed until we can get replacements," said school administrator Carlos Lima.
Repairmen say thieves are so desperate for the metal inside the units that as soon as destroyed air conditioners are replaced, thieves strike again.
"Right behind Croasdale Golf Course we set 10 units, a week later they stole half of them again," said Chris Brantley with Comfort Engineers air conditioning.
In all 13 units were destroyed at the school. Maintenance contractors say in order to get about $1,000 worth of copper thieves did about $150,000 worth of damage.
"If you look at the number of units damaged you have to think that there's a group of people coordinated doing this," said Lima.
Chapel Hill has seen a huge jump in these kind of incidents.
"In the last three weeks we've had 20 cases reported here," said Lt. Kevin Gunter of the Chapel Hill Police.
But the thefts aren't confined to Chapel Hill. It is a region-wide problem that includes almost every kind of metal from steel manhole covers to aluminum siding, gutters and downspouts.
"It's very frustrating to officers investigating these crimes trying to follow up on leads. In some cases there's very little to go on," said Gunter.
In the school's case, they plan to rig their new units to notify police using either a surveillance system or a sensor that will trigger an alarm whenever they're tampered with.
And police are working with area metal recycling facilities to go through their records to find out whose bringing in what kinds of scrap.
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Comments
By J on 11/30 12:53 AM
This article reflects how poor the security system at the school is.Where did they go at the time? It is really pathetic.Thieves are doing this as an art nowadays. http://www.raleigh-durhamheatingandair.com/
By Iron Man on 08/21 08:37 AM
And you, on the other hand, called names and added nothing to the theft story. Well played.
By delbert on 08/21 08:01 AM
Blah, blah, blah. Say nothing about the story itself, question the reporter, then let the world know that you are yet another conservative moron. McCain cheated on his wife and disgraced the Servicemember's Code of Conduct.
By Iron Man on 08/21 07:35 AM
Steel manhole covers? Steel? Are you certain of that? In the rest of the world manhole covers are made out of cast iron. Go out and look at one. Fast, accurate indeed. How is John Edwards doing these days?
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