Police: Copper thieves strike 3 times

BRISTOL TWP., Pa. - April 28, 2010

Bristol Township police have released video from an April 22nd evening theft of an air conditioning system at Bucks County Technical High School.

The loss to the school is totaled to $3,000.

Earlier that day, police believe the same pair in a white pickup truck stole an AC and heating system from a Vietnam veteran's center.

Jesse Hill, the leader of the organization, says the $8,000 unit was the size of a Volkswagen and the crooks would have needed a forklift to move it out.

Also back on the 22nd, police think it was the same duo in the truck who stole an AC valued at $2,500 from RHR Mechanical Contractors on Durham Road.

Just this past Monday, police believe the same team ripped off a biomedical lab on Hartel Street.

"$50,000. They took not only the air conditioners, but they took laboratory equipment, stainless steel mixers with large bowls, stainless steel doors," Chief James McAndrew of the Bristol Township Police said.

Police are searching for the thieves, but not their motives, as those are known.

The thieves want the AC's for the copper and aluminum components that can be sold as scrap metal.

Copper prices have more than tripled in the last 20 years from over $2,200 per metric ton in 1990 to over $7,600 today.

Meanwhile, the price of aluminum has nearly doubled as well.

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