The rash of copper thefts that have plagued Fairfield County in recent weeks has escalated to new levels, if recent incident reports from the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office are any indication.
While thefts of copper components from air conditioning units outside churches, businesses and one school have, in the last month, involved the dismantlement and destruction of units at these locations, a pair of recent incidents have seen thieves abscond with the entire units, leaving behind nothing but stripped wires and concrete bases.
Deputies responded to a call at a restaurant on the Highway 321 Bypass on the evening of Aug. 9 where the owner there had found his A/C unit stolen. The unit had an estimated value of $3,000.
A deputy on patrol in the Blackstock area during the early morning hours of Aug. 12 discovered two A/C units had been taken from outside Red Hill Baptist Church. Those units were worth an estimated $4,400.
It has not been determined if these incidents are related to the string of copper thefts that have kept investigators jumping for the last several weeks.