Thieves Swipe Stainless Steel As Prices Go Up
(CBS) FORT WORTH, Texas Most people have heard about metal thieves stealing copper from construction sites and stripping it from air conditioning units. Now it seems burglars are targeting a more common metal that can usually be found in the average kitchen cabinet, reports CBS station KTVT-TV in Dallas.
Metal thieves hit a North Texas restaurant supplier over the weekend. These thieves didn't take copper or bronze; they stole stainless steel.
"They take wire cutters and cut through it," said restaurant supplier Wally Culps.
For the last six months, thieves have been cutting through the fence hauling away sinks, tables and just about anything they can get their hand son. "I had some stainless steel pots that weighed over 200 lbs and they disappeared one night," Culps said.
Police say one reason for the increased number of thefts is that, in the last four months the price of stainless steel has doubled to $1.00 a pound and the price of a key component of stainless steel, nickel, has soared 140 percent.
Stainless steel thieves are hitting mom and pop restaurants hard. Everyday products like commercial stainless steel bowls can cost $250 each. With prices like that, a light haul by thieves could net upwards of $100 at a recycling center.
KTVT-TV visited a recycling center that keeps copper locked up and under surveillance.
As stainless steel prices started to climb last December, outside cameras at the center captured culprits boldly driving into the lot to pick up what was once considered junk metal. The thieves were even so brazen as to come back the next night. Things got better after the owner hired an armed guard.
Unless police catch thieves in the act, suppliers say they're helpless. "If your social security number isn't on it, there's no way that police can say it's yours to report stolen," says recycling center owner, David Vega. So most of the time they let them go."
Recycling center workers say demand from China is also fueling the rising cost of stainless steel.
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