A big rig feels like home to George Ali, who has made his living off trucking for the past 53 years.
Ali, who owns Kody Transport, made a tough call when he parked three of his trucks six years ago. Business was too slow, he explained, and running those rigs would have cost him money.
It turned out parking those trucks could be just as expensive after looters stole the batteries and stripped away much of the copper from his three tractors and three trailers.
Ali discovered the thefts when he noticed air hoses hanging from the underside of the rigs. Now he’s looking at paying out at least $9,000 to repair the tractor-trailers on top of towing costs.
He doesn’t understand why someone would break into the vehicles, which were parked in a gravel lot next to The Outreach Center at 500 E. Fleming Drive, Morganton.
“What’s mine, I worked for,” he explained.
Ali is far from alone. Copper and scrap metal thefts now makes up between five and 10 percent of all thefts reported the sheriff’s office. Officials say scrap is a lucrative steal as a weak economy has skyrocketed copper’s price.
Detective Mike Ollis investigates all reports of copper and scrap thefts for the sheriff’s office. He says vacant properties — like Ali’s trucks — are copper thieves’ main targets.
Gresham Orrison, a local ophthalmologist who owns several industrial properties, said he has several empty warehouses that thieves have looted for metal.
“It’s a huge problem for landlords, big and small,” he said.
Orrison says most times nothing’s stolen the first time crooks visit his properties — they merely cut off the locks and check later to see if the locks were replaced.
He’s reported a dozen or more thefts from his properties and estimates repair costs at $500,000 or more.
Ollis said there are ways to protect vacant properties. Property owners can install surveillance systems to monitor their property — “Deer cameras work great,” Ollis said — and security systems can alert police when thieves have entered the building.
Ollis added that stealing copper is dangerous, especially when crooks are cutting into electric and gas lines around heat pumps. Some would-be copper thieves have died from explosions caused when they cut a gas line, or have been electrocuted when they grabbed a live wire.
Local thieves have gotten nothing more than a shock while taking copper, he said, and none have been seriously injured.
Ollis said one suspect told him: “We’re lucky to be alive.”
The detective said he’s lucky he’s investigating reported thefts and not a thief’s death.
“It’s amazing what people will do for a little bit of money,” he said.
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