The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the removal of copper piping from two dozen summer bungalows at the Har Nof Colony on Route 42 in Kiamesha Lake.
Authorities said the thieves apparently climbed under the homes and carefully cut out the pipes using a Sawzall-type device. In addition to copper water pipes that were cut out and stolen, three-inch sewer lines were also removed.
Police said two caretakers who live on the property reported hearing no activity.
(Source: MidHudsonNews)
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7 Responses
It should be fairly easy for the Sheriff to go to the scrap dealers in Sullivan and Ulster county and find out who has sold large amounts of copper pipe over the winter.
#1 – not necessarily. According to the Discovery channel it has now become common to melt down the copper and mint counterfeit pennies which yields a higher profit than using the raw copper directly. These days you can even buy cheap penny minting kits on eBay. Shows what the horrible economy has driven people to do.
#2 – Ridiculous!!! I couldn’t find anything of the sort for sale on ebay!!! nor could I find anything about turning copper into pennies on the discovery channel!!!
If they can afford to have summer homes, why isn’t there some type of security or surveilance cameras? Alternatively, wouldn’t PVC pipes make more sense if they cannnot monitor their property. I read yesterday there was a theft of several miles of copper wiring along a utility Right of Way near buffalo.
It is so sad when people write about things that they know nothing about. Pennies were 95% copper until 1982, when that much copper became worth more than one cent. Since 1983, pennies have been 97.5% zinc. Anyone who melts copper to make pennies is losing money, and lots of it.
Comment #2 makes no sense. The copper in pennies today is worth more than a penny, so if you stole copper and minted it into a penny you would lose 30-40% of the value. But if its stolen and you need a way to “launder” it, then it could be worth t. More likely is that the thieves just sold the copper for scrap.
This is an inside job, or someone that recently did work and saw how much copper is there. The price of copper has actually come down in the last few years. Gadolhador – as you say most “new” summer homes have Cpvc or “Pex” piping. Har Nof is an older bungalow colony which doesn’t have mcmansion style homes as you refer to colonies that should have cameras. I have news for you- cameras can be disabled or knocked down aswell if the thieves are determined enough.