Have an empty property? Thieves may be eyeing it for its copper

Have an empty property? Thieves may be eyeing it for its copper

Copper thieves are suspected of targeting vacant homes using real estate websites, leaving real estate agents and plumbers to clean up the mess and owners to foot the bill.

Thieves Looted Royal Caribbean’s Copper

In late June 2023, thieves executed a rare and audacious act of copper pillage in Springfield. They broke into the big, vacant former Royal Caribbean call center in Gateway and ripped out copious amounts of heavy-gauge copper electrical system wiring and copper HVAC piping throughout the building, police reports show. In the process, they trashed the 160,000-square-foot facility’s electrical and HVAC systems so badly that much of it must be repl…