Schumer Plan Cracks Down On Metal Thieves That Are Costing Homeowners, Businesses And Municipalities Millions Of Dollars Each Year

Press Release

Skyrocketing Prices for Metal Has Led To Sharp Rise In Metal Theft in WNY and Across the Country - Raises Costs of Construction, Hurts Businesses and Home Owners, Makes Revitalizing Abandoned Housing More Difficult

17 Percent of Burglaries In Niagara Falls in 2008 Were Metal-Related; Metal Theft Over the Weekend In Buffalo Will Force Extended Stay For Two Families In Homeless Shelter

Schumer Pushes Plan To Establish Harsher Penalty for Thieves

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is pushing legislation to prevent the theft and sale of stolen scrap metal. Metal commodities prices have skyrocketed over the past three years, leading to a sharp rise in metal theft in Western New York and across the Country. The bipartisan legislation to be introduced by Schumer, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will establish harsher penalties for metal thieves. Currently, criminal penalties are determined based on the cost of the metal. Under Senator Schumer, Klobuchar and Hatch's proposal, the criminal penalty will be based on the amount of damage caused by the metal theft. For example, a thief who, by stealing a $5 pipe from a house, causes $1000 worth of damages, could now be charged with stealing $1000 worth of goods.

Today Schumer said that this problem disproportionately affects communities with high rates of abandoned and foreclosed housing, because stripping them of pipes and wiring makes them much harder to renovate and resell.

"Metal theft is a serious problem that affects homeowners, business owners, utility companies and the local economies in Western New York and across the country," said Schumer. "We must find a way to combat this offense to keep properties intact and residents safe. This plan will help deter individuals from engaging in metal theft by establishing harsher penalties for those who do."

Metal thieves steal metal items for their extrinsic value as raw materials, and then sell them to scrap dealers. While copper has been the most-stolen metal, large-scale metal theft is not limited to one material. Western New York has suffered severely from metal theft over the past few years. Thieves have stolen property from homes, churches, cemeteries and even 9/11 and WWII memorials. These thefts have caused significant monetary damage and have at times put lives in danger. The most commonly stolen items are copper piping from houses -- often still under construction.

In Buffalo, in 2006, there were 314 reported copper-related thefts. In 2007, that number jumped to 420 reported thefts, and in the first quarter of 2008, there were 176 reported copper-related thefts. Most recently, a house at the YWCA of Western New York, Inc. used for transitional housing for homeless women and their children was significantly damaged due to theft of metal parts for sale on the illegal scrap metal market. The theft, with the resulting water damage and replacement costs, has left two domestic violence victims and their families homeless, possibly until after the holidays.

Police in Niagara Falls have estimated that copper theft accounted for 17 percent of all burglaries in the city in 2008. In the summer of 2008, two thieves stole 200 copper vases from several cemeteries in Niagara County, demonstrating that there are few locations safe from scrap metal thieves. Also last summer in Niagara Falls an explosion was almost caused when thieves dismantled natural gas pipes in the basement of a bar and liquor store.

Metal theft exacts a high toll on American citizens, both economically, as municipalities and utility companies are two prime victims of metal theft, and logistically, when the resulting breakdown of infrastructure and communications lines threatens citizens' safety.

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