Saturday, August 1, 2009

Raise your hands


90 cents a pound for copper and this schmoe was trying to sell about 600 pounds.

All of that damage and destruction to net $540.00?

Dude was on probation from Galveston County too. Raise your hand if you think he should go to prison the new charges and have his probation revoked on the old.

Okay you can put your hand down now.


Man accused in copper thefts

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A Galveston man who allegedly stole nearly three tons of copper from commercial air conditioning units in the area is behind bars in Hays County Jail.

Law enforcement officials believe Clifton Ashworth, 27, used his gymnastics training to scale big box stores and remove condensing coils and copper drainage pipes from AC units during the past three months.

Police arrested Ashworth as he allegedly tried to sell 600 pounds of copper to Green Guy Recycling Center in San Marcos.

Damage is estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and charges are pending in both San Antonio and New Braunfels.

Bond has been set at $180,000.

“Here in San Marcos, Ross and Best Buy had to use trailers equipped to pump air conditioning into the stores to keep their doors open,” said Terry Nichols, police commander with San Marcos Police Department. “Those trailers cost around $10,000 a week.”

Ashworth was sentenced to four years probation in Galveston County for similar charges.

The trade in stolen copper has been lucrative. The past few years, its value has increased to about 90 cents a pound.