Police busy with copper worth more than pretty penny

Copper is hot. Just ask the coppers.

By Joy Powell, Star Tribune

Last update: August 10, 2007 - 9:59 PM

Copper is hot. Just ask the coppers.

They've arrested three people suspected of stealing the pricey metal this week. Two were charged Friday in Hennepin County.

Meanwhile, authorities plan to charge a 40-year-old man for making off with big sheets of copper in Chaska. He's expected to appear Monday in Carver County District Court.

There's been a rash of such thefts in the last few years as copper prices rise and thieves look for illegal salvage sources.

"We have thieves that are breaking into the vacant houses, stealing the copper metal in the vacant buildings, and it is creating a very dangerous hazard situation where firefighters and emergency responders are going into homes where the gas has been left on but the copper piping has been taken out," St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said Thursday night at a hearing on home foreclosures.

About the time that Coleman was talking, two such thieves were caught swiping copper in Minneapolis.

On Friday, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office charged James C. Exum Jr., 45, and Donald C. David, 50, of Minneapolis, with burglary in the cases.

One was at a house in the 1800 block of Dupont Avenue N. being rehabbed, the other at a boarded-up house in the 3200 block of N. 4th Street, the complaints said.

Friday night, David and Exum remained in the Hennepin County jail.

Meanwhile, a third man was being held in the Carver County jail in connection with stealing 22 large copper sheets valued at $13,500 from a Chaska firm. He was arrested Wednesday after trying to sell the copper to a scrap metal dealer, who alerted police.

Joy Powell • 612-673-7750 • jpowell@startribune.com

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