According to Vermilion Parish Sheriff Mike Couvillon, Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office are asking the public for their assistance in helping them solve numerous thefts of Copper, Scrap Iron, Radiators, and Welding Machines in Vermilion Parish over the last few weeks.

Sheriff Couvillon says that the majority of the copper thefts are coming in the form of welding leads being cut from welding machines, and then burning the rubber and selling the copper.

Sheriff Couvillon says that there is a direct effect of the Economy on Property Crimes, as the rise in the price of Copper at almost $3.00per lb. has caused a rise in these thefts.

Sheriff Couvillon says that Detectives are working diligently with Law Enforcement agencies in the surrounding area, as well as numerous scrap yards in an effort to recover these items and to develop a suspect and/or suspects involved in these crimes.

Sheriff Couvillon says that the public can be of valuable assistance by contacting the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division at 898-4403 if they notice any suspicious vehicles and/or individuals in areas that they should not be, or if they notice individuals burning anything that is accompanied with particularly heavy black smoke, which may indicate that it is some type of wiring that may be associated with these types of thefts.

Sheriff Couvillon also says that potential victims can protect themselves by securing their items and/or placing them in well lit areas in an effort to possibly deter such thefts.

Finally, Sheriff Couvillon says that he is confident that the person or persons responsible for these thefts will be caught, but says that in the case of these copper thefts many times Detectives have no serial numbers or specific identification marking to help validate that these items were actually stolen, and therefore good investigative skills and/or the assistance from the public are imperative to help solve these types of crimes.


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