Thieves steal the copper, then resell it
By JOHN GHIRARDINI The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 02/16/06
A towering symbol of the communication age is under attack by thieves seeking loot coveted since the Bronze Age: copper.
At least three cellphone tower sites in Gwinnett County have been stripped in the last month by criminals who apparently want to sell the metal.
"It's an ongoing issue throughout the metro area," said Kristin Wallace, an Atlanta-based Sprint Nextel spokeswoman.
The thieves don't scale the spindly, windblown towers. Much of their electrical equipment is on the ground, in metal boxes typically protected by padlocked chain-link fences.
The copper plates and bars stolen from the tower sites don't directly affect cellular phone service.
Instead, the shiny metal's electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance properties help ground the towers against lightning strikes. And those can cause service interruptions.
Copper is one of the oldest metals known to humankind, and ranks third in industrial usage behind iron and aluminum, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Its common use lends itself to easy and profitable recycling.
Taken individually, the tower thefts do not add up to large amounts of money. Plates stolen from one Gwinnett tower were valued at just $100 by the technician reporting the crime. A copper bar taken from another tower site was valued at $500.