Highways are high-traffic crime scenes

Construction sites prove vulnerable

By PRENTISS FINDLAY 

Stealing from highways has become an epidemic in South Carolina and across the country as thieves make off with everything from stormwater grates to road signs.

Steel rods and construction tractors were stolen during the recently completed Interstate 26 widening project in the Lowcountry. And heavy metal plates covering holes in the road — and even heavy machinery— are targets.

"It's anything of scrap value," said Maj. John Garrison of the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office.

• About the permit law

  What's covered: The state law, which went into effect in August, applies to copper and most other nonferrous metals. Catalytic converters, which contain platinum, and stainless steel beer kegs are included. Aluminum cans are not.

  Permits: Buyers and sellers must get a permit from their local sheriff's office. Sellers pay no fee. Buyers need a $200 permit renewable every two years. Both sellers and buyers are subject to criminal background checks and likely will be denied a permit if they have a history of theft, state officials say. People who sell or transport copper on a regular basis can get a permit that is good for a year, but they must apply in person at the sheriff's office. Sellers can apply over the phone, but those permits are good for one transaction only and have a 48-hour shelf life.

  The State newspaper

  
  

An 80-pound stormwater grate lifted from a road might bring $6 at a recycler.

But some thieves apparently think it's worth their trouble.

In the Upstate, more than 100 storm-drain grates were stolen over a recent weekend along Interstate 85 in Anderson County and U.S. 276 in Greenville County.

"This is very possibly the most widespread case of infrastructure theft on our highways that has ever occurred in South Carolina," said state Maintenance Engineer David Cook.

Along the coast, the DOT reported 10 stolen stormwater grates, weighing 100 pounds each, on U.S. 17 and U.S. 521 in Georgetown County. Ten manhole covers have been reported missing in Horry County.

Replacing 100 stolen stormwater grates in the Upstate will cost $15,000. They will be welded into place to protect against more thievery, said DOT spokesman Pete Poore.

Work on the now-finished widening of Interstate 26 near Charleston was delayed about two weeks because thieves stole steel rods used in construction and metal supports for overhead signs, said Earl Capps, spokesman for U.S. Group, the main contractor.

They also made off with three pieces of heavy machinery used for earth moving and excavation. The construction tractors were recovered because they were equipped with satellite tracking devices, he said.

"It's a major problem in the construction industry," Capps said. "I've never seen it like this before."

Capps, who teaches at the College of Charleston, said he sometimes spends weekends reading a book or grading papers at the U.S. 17-A construction site in Berkeley County to keep an eye on equipment and supplies.

Barry Wolff of Charleston, president of the South Carolina Recyclers Association, said reputable recyclers do not accept items such as manhole covers or stormwater grates.

"It's like buying a piece of railroad track. You know you are doing wrong," he said.

Some stormwater grates weigh as much as 200 pounds, he said, but the payoff is only 10 cents a pound. "It's absolutely insane," he said.

The problem is not limited to highways.

In September, The State newspaper reported on a car stolen in Richland County that was quickly sold to a scrap-metal dealer in Cayce. The dealer promptly shredded the car, even though it had been reported stolen within hours of the theft and placed on a national crime computer network of stolen cars.

In fact, copper thefts have been so pervasive in Richland County — with hundreds of thefts at places including churches, businesses and home constructions sites since the beginning of the year — that Sheriff Leon Lott assigned a deputy to investigate them.

Last year thieves cut through the fence at the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office evidence compound and hauled off 225 pounds of copper wiring recovered from previous thefts.

The scrap recycling industry reports a wide range of stolen materials at its web site, ScrapTheftAlert.com. They include drainage grates in St. Louis, farm gates in Buffalo, N.Y., a historic copper bell from St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, 30 radiators in Kissimmee, Fla., and 15 air conditioning condenser coils in Wake Forest, N.C.

In Redmond, Wash., a man was arrested after police said he stole more than 22,000 pounds of manhole covers and grates, and sold them for $4,300 in scrap metal.

In Philadelphia, a 12-year-old girl was walking down a city street when she suddenly fell into an open sewer hole created by a stolen manhole cover.

In August, a new South Carolina law took effect that makes it illegal to transport, sell or buy scrap metal without a permit.

Under the new law, scrap metal sellers and recyclers must have permits from their local sheriff to legally sell or buy copper, aluminum and catalytic converters. For sellers, it also will be illegal to transport the metal without the permit.

To buy, metal recyclers must make a copy of a seller's permit. They also must record information on each sale, including the seller's photograph and license plate number, the date and amount paid, and a description of the metal.

The S.C. Sheriffs' Association worked with legislators and metal recyclers to come up with a bill that would be effective. Many of the requirements placed upon the metal recyclers are similar to those now in place for pawn shop operators.

Richland County's Lott said at the time the law went into effect that the permits should deter criminals, because recycling businesses cannot buy from anyone without a permit.

"The crooks aren't going to come here and get a permit," he said
.

For more information on these matters, please call our law office at 305 548 5020.

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