News and Success Stories

Tag Archives: Copper

Convicted felon apprehended on two counts

“I received an e-mail from LeadsOnline about a listed person of interest. I looked into the matter and discovered the person had sold a firearm to a local pawn store. The person of interest was a convicted felon and had no reason or legal authority to be in possession of the firearm. A hold was placed on the firearm. The person of interest was arrested for felon in possession of a firearm, a second degree felony in Florida and also charged with providing fraudulent information to a pawn broker (He was selling the gun for a friend who had no ID). This is a third degree felony as the value was under $300. LeadsOnline helped us secure a convicted felon in the county jail and hopefully prison. By the way, the person of interest was also one of our copper thieves. This was a win-win scenario as it allowed us to get one of many copper thieves off the streets. Thanks LeadsOnline!”

Sgt. Donald Howe
Crestview Police Department
Florida

Sometimes you’re only a few clicks away from your suspect

“A homeowner gave me a still shot from a Game Camera of a suspect stealing copper wire from a storage shed. After an officer was able to identify the suspect, I used LeadsOnline to find where the suspect sold copper a few hours after the photo was taken. I went to the scrapyard and was able to get video showing the suspect wearing the same clothes and bringing in the same material that shown on the victim’s photo. Without LeadsOnline, it would have taken several days to go to all the scrap yards and search the reports by hand; instead it took a few mouse clicks.”

Det. Justin Howard
Birmingham Police Department
Alabama

You like apples? How do you like these apples? Behind bars, because that’s where you’re going

“In December of 2011, a Breaking and Entering occurred at an electric substation. The power transformer unit owned by the City of North Little Rock, Ark., was forcibly entered by a suspect in an effort to acquire the copper bushings located within the transformer. The suspect caused $345,000 worth the damage, and fled the scene with a significant amount of copper. A quick search of LeadsOnline allowed me to identify the items stolen from the substation, and the suspect was quickly identified. Without the help of LeadsOnLine we could not have found and recovered crucial evidence within hours of the incident. LeadsOnLine continues to be an incredible source of information and an asset to law enforcement officials everywhere.”

Det. John Desizlets
North Little Rock Police Department
Arkansas

Fool me once? Nope. You can’t fool me even once with LeadsOnline in my corner

“A suspect was scrapping an odd amount of copper with peculiar frequency and regularity. We had discovered, using LeadsOnline, that the crook had been scrapping various copper and brass products over a six month time period. We were able to determine that the subject had stolen $180,000 worth of scrap metal from his employer. After his arrest, he was released on bond, but his criminal activity continued. After being contacted in reference to a burglary, I was able to locate the same suspect pawning his ex-wife’s $6,000 ring set after breaking into her home and stealing the items. Once again, LeadsOnline directed us to the ring set where police confiscated the item. He was once again arrested. Thanks LeadsOnline! Scoreboard: Copper Thief – 0 points, Detective Moore and LeadsOnline – 2 points.”

Det. Brad Moore
Georgetown Police Department
Kentucky

Copper stolen from a church. More than 20 cases solved in Ohio scrap yards with one LeadsOnline search.

“LeadsOnline has once again proven itself to be one of the most useful tools in my investigatory arsenal! We received two reports of copper downspouts being stolen from a local church and a residence. After looking at the information available I went to LeadsOnline and searched for more than 100 pounds of copper being scrapped. Within a span of minutes I had a number of results, one of which contained a person of interest tag from Bexley Police, another local agency. With the information provided by their detective I was able to link the cases together and had good suspects for the crime. Less than a week later the two suspects had surrendered and I was able to obtain confessions showing that the two had been responsible for almost 2 dozen thefts of copper from the Columbus area! The most impressive part of the whole story is that the person of interest tag had only been put on my suspect a few hours before I did my search. Thanks to the information sharing system attached to LeadsOnline I got the break I needed in a case that could have otherwise gone unsolved. Thanks again LeadsOnline!”

Sgt. Stephen Mette
Worthington Police Department
Ohio

More than 600 copper urns stolen from Louisiana cemetery; four suspects arrested by detective using LeadsOnline metal theft investigation system

“A local cemetery began seeing a large amount of flower urns missing. The cemetery did not report the thefts to police but did send a letter to a local scrap yard advising of the thefts. One month later, we were made aware of the incident by an employee at a local scrap yard but were unable to locate the person selling the flower urns. Upon searching the LeadsOnline database we found another suspect who was related to the person in question and were able to further the investigation. Four suspects were arrested and two of them confessed to the crime. The four suspects were responsible for taking more than 600 flower urns from the cemetary. Three of them were charged with 612 counts of theft of copper from a cemetery and are currently in jail awaiting trial. The fourth suspect is also in jail and was charged with 30 counts of theft of copper from a cemetery. Photographs obtained from the LeadsOnline database clearly show the suspects selling the flower urns. The suspects cut the urns up in several pieces before selling them. The total loss to the cemetery is over $100,000.”

Det. Chance Cappel
Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office
Louisiana

Felony charges filed against suspected battery thief

“With the assistance of LeadsOnline, I was able to locate and recover over 21 batteries that were stolen from a major utility company. This led to two felony charges for theft of copper/aluminum/bronze.”

Det. Alejandro Martinez
San Antonio Police Department
Texas

LeadsOnline state scrap theft database alerts police to copper thieves

“In Glendale, Arizona, a vacant multi-million dollar commercial complex was burglarized repeatedly, sustaining tens of thousands of dollars in stolen/damaged property. A fingerprint was located and LeadsOnline was used to locate the stolen copper and also develop a lead to another suspect. The suspect was arrested and confessed to burglarizing the property. He pled to jail time for his involvement.”

Det. Thomas Pocknell
Glendale Police Department
Arizona

Suspect confesses to $70,000 in metal theft when presented with evidence provided by electronic reporting

“While investigating a larceny of approximately $70,000 worth of copper occurring over an eight month period from a local manufacturing facility, a suspect was developed in the case. Once the suspect was apprehended in the act of stealing more copper from the business he was subsequently interviewed. After being presented with the data of all of his transactions from selling copper that were retrieved form LeadsOnline, the suspect gave a full confession. After the confession, the subject was charged with 14 counts of larceny and 14 counts of Burglary in the second degree. Thanks to the easy access to LeadsOnline, I was able to quickly gather all of the subject’s sales data, which resulted in a successful interview and confession.”

Deputy Garrett Cash
Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office Uniform Patrol
South Carolina

Demolition employee scraps over 30,000 pounds of stolen metal behind boss’ back

“Leads, it never seizes to amaze me on how easy your system makes it to locate the wrong doing of a few unfortunate criminals who think they can be slicker than the system. My city has an old hospital they finally decided to tear down. In the past year we have had over 80 arrests for theft up at the site. I received a call from a probation officer who advised me on a routine check of one of his probationers, that he found some copper in her car. She claimed it came from her work. The probation officer advised me that the suspect worked for a business that was tearing down an old hospital. Hearing this, I ran her information through the LeadsOnline Metal Theft Investigations System, and the return showed that she had been scrapping behind her boss’ back for several months using a different scrapyard. The female suspect had scrapped at the rate of 18,368 pounds and her boyfriend, who also worked there, had scrapped 12,818 pounds. The business that was tearing down the old hospital was at a loss of over $49,318.12 worth of scrap metal. Wow.”

Det. John Desizlets
North Little Rock Police Department
Arkansas

Suspect caught selling stolen metal in multiple jurisdictions

“Using LeadsOnline, I discovered a suspect had been selling large amounts of copper. Blytheville PD was investigating a metal theft case involving copper and the suspect was connected. I made contact with the business owner and he advised me that the suspect was on his way with more of that ‘pretty copper!’ The suspect gave consent to search his vehicle and the truck was packed full of cut copper wire. Also in the back seat was a box containing copper sheets. The suspect was brought back to the Osceola PD and gave a taped confession. He was given a bond and is awaiting trial. Thank you LeadsOnline for such an outstanding database.”

Capt. Ollie Collins
Osceola Police Department
Arkansas

Police use LeadsOnline to identify suspect in out of jurisdiction metal theft case

“Detective William Skaggs received information from Captain Ollie Collins, using LeadsOnline, about a suspect scrapping a large amount of copper. Det. Skaggs then made contact with the business who told him the suspect was coming in multiple times in the past week with copper. It was known through our department that Blytheville, Police Department had a copper theft report that matched some of the property our suspect scrapped. We spoke with detectives from Blytheville and it was believed this could be connected. Shortly after leaving the scrap business, I received a phone call from the scrap business that our suspect just called and told them he was on his way with more ‘pretty copper!’ The car our suspect was driving was obviously loaded with something heavy by the way the back was squatting. The suspect gave me consent to search his vehicle, and we found the truck was packed full of cut copper wire and some type of copper sheets. It was discovered the copper wire was stolen in Blytheville. This case was ultimately turned over to the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Department for further investigation and prosecution, but without the assistance of LeadsOnline, the theft would have never been discovered.”

Sgt. Chris Ellis
Osceola Police Department
Arkansas

San Antonio PD catches another copper thief with LeadsOnline

“Using the scrap yard search on LeadsOnline, I was able to locate and positively identify an active burglar who has been hitting the industrial businesses in our jurisdiction. The burglar was breaking into the businesses and stealing copper. Although I was not able to recover the copper stolen in the burglaries, I was able to file on the burglar. The suspect has a lengthy criminal record including multiple burglary cases. LeadsOnline provided photos of the burglar which showed him wearing the same clothing and unique backpack he was wearing when he committed the burglary. FYI this isn’t the first time I have been able to catch copper thieves using LeadsOnline. Thank you for your help!”

Det. Alejandro Martinez
San Antonio Police Department
Texas

California PD discover ring of copper thieves while using the LeadsOnline free trial

“My agency gained access to LeadsOnline using the 30-day free trial. Within two hours of having an open LeadsOnline account, our detectives were able to identify a ring of copper thieves that have been plaguing a local business for months. The very next morning we had all four in our custody and located several hundred pounds of stolen copper. We currently have pending charges on three of the subjects.”

Sgt. Troy Adams
Belmont Police Department
California

North Carolina detective locates stolen copper and clears the case two days after the crime

“Rockstar status in the scrap yard!! Gotta love finding copper, tools of the trade, and clearing cases within two days of the crime. LeadsOnline rocks!”

Det. Kristy Cox
Oak Island Police Department
North Carolina

Suspect steals copper wiring from employer for quick cash

“The victimized business in this investigation filed a larceny report believing that some of their employees were stealing copper house wire. A list was compiled by the victim and submitted in the initial report. Detective Rios searched through LeadsOnline and found that one of the victim’s employees scrapped a large amount of copper house wire. Detective Rios obtained tickets and photos of each transaction that showed exactly what the suspect sold. The victim identified all the wiring in the photos as wiring the company keeps in stock for their electrical contracting business. The victim reviewed his inventory which showed that the suspect was taking more wire than what was needed for the jobs. It was then determined that the amount of copper wire stolen amounted to $3,581. The suspect then sold/scrapped the same wiring and received a total amount of $1,982. A warrant was issued for the suspect’s arrest for Embezzlement and Obtaining Property by False Pretenses. He was apprehended and invoked his right to remain silent. There is more follow up to conduct regarding possible associates and other thefts.”

Det. Wilbur Oneal
Raleigh Police Department
North Carolina