More than $16,000 in copper wire stolen from Harmar concrete plant

An East Butler man is accused of stealing copper wire from a Harmar concrete plant that, according to the business, costs them nearly $16,500 to replace.

Harmar police charged Colton Shane Miner, 24, with felony counts of theft by, receiving stolen property and theft of secondary metal, along with summary criminal mischief and trespass charges.

He is awaiting a preliminary hearing before District Judge Michael Girardi.

A Swank Construction Co. employee contacted Harmar police Friday to report stolen copper wire from its concrete plant on Guys Run Road, according to a criminal complaint. The employee had pictures of the car, a black Dodge truck, from an on-site camera.

Surveillance photos show that the truck pulled onto the property at 5:17 a.m. March 29 and left 10 minutes later with the copper wire in the truck bed, the complaint said.

Harmar police then learned the same truck was reported to be trespassing later that day at Panza Supply in the 200 block of Dremmel Road, the complaint said. A Panza employee told police he questioned the driver, identified as Miner, three times as to why he was on the property.

Miner first told the employee he was lost, then later said his car broke down, police said. The employee then heard a passenger in the truck telling Miner, “Let’s just go,” the complaint said.

Panza also had surveillance footage which showed the stolen copper wire in the back of the truck according to police.

A Harmar officer contacted one of Miner’s family members who said Miner has a friend who works for Swank. Police contacted Miner to set up a time for him to provide a statement, but Miner had stopped responding, the complaint said.

Copper theft is an ongoing problem in the country, fueled at least in part by high prices for the metal.

In January, a Steelton, Pa., company reported the theft of $60,000 worth of copper wire, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Investment research site Macrotrends.net, reports new copper prices were at $4.31 per pound on Tuesday, almost double the price of $2.17 per pound in March 2020.

Even at scrap prices, the wire can be valuable. Scrapmonster.com, a clearing house of scrap metal prices, listed the average for bright copper wire at $3.28 per pound at scrap yards across Pennsylvania.