Las Vegas’ Arts District businesses targeted by copper thieves

Copper wire thieves have been a persistent problem across the valley for years, but Arts District businesses have been hit hard this summer.

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas City Council took what it hopes will be a step toward curbing the problem Wednesday by passing a new ordinance that subjects the purchasing of copper wire to stricter rules.

Good Pie, a pizza restaurant at 1212 S. Main St., was a victim over the weekend as thieves tried to strip copper wire from a rooftop compressor. Repairs will run at least $10,000, says the owner.

Thefts have “been running rampant because it’s too easy for them to get the copper and then sell it to make a quick buck,” said Vincent Rotolo, who has owned the business for six years and been in the downtown location four years. “But we were one of the more fortunate ones because we were able to make repairs in a day and get back open.”

Preventing such thefts, and the cashing in on them, is what city officials are hoping the new ordinance will help to crack down on.

“To discourage illegal activity and facilitate enforcement, while helping to preserve and protect facilities that rely on copper wire, we have passed a new ordinance focused on the purchase of scrap metal,” the city posted Wednesday on X.

The ordinance makes it unlawful to purchase scrap metal/seven strand utility wire in city limits without proper documentation and payment verification. Buyers are also barred from buying scrap that has not been transported to the purchaser by vehicle.

Violations will result in misdemeanors.

Brewery also hit

Rotolo said he had to close for Tuesday lunch hour and lost 65 to 70 potential customers, but he reopened at 4 p.m. for evening service.

Able Baker Brewing, a popular brewery just three blocks south, is in the 1500 block of South Main where six compressor or air conditioning units were damaged by thieves in late August.

“We were hit two out of three nights during the five hours we were closed from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. They took one night off,” said Van Nguyen, who manages a kitchen that partners with the brewery. “They got onto the roof (overnight on Aug. 23) and cut into a refrigeration unit and dismantled the unit, stripped the copper and then cut into another unit at a vacant building.”

Two nights later thieves were “making grinding noises cutting into the roof and an overnight bartender heard it and called 911 to report it,” he said. “A patrol car came out and went around the block, but the officer didn’t go onto the roof which was reported to the 911 operator,” Nguyen said, adding that he wasn’t blaming police because there may have been a reason the officer didn’t check the roof.

The building has several tenants and six businesses had some form of damage and copper thefts over several days, Nguyen said.

The units cost $15,000 to $20,000 each to repair or replace, he said.

“It’s the fourth or fifth block that has been hit in the past three months,” he said. “The total damage has to be upward of a half-million dollars.”

The Metropolitan Police Department said it has formed a coaltion with many downtown businesses to try and deal with the issue.

“It’s been going on all summer,” said Metro spokesman Robert Wicks. “We’re to reaching out of the businesses to deal with the issue. It is an ongoing investigation.”

‘More than the lost business and costs’

Why thieves are destroying units that cost up to $20,000 to steal about $100 to $150 worth of copper wire puzzles Nguyen, he said.

“They got maybe a total of few thousand dollars of copper total (over the summer),” he said. “Maybe somebody wants to cause havoc rather than just strip copper.”

Able Baker was able to open on schedule through the use of different types of taps, but that limited what they could serve customers until repairs were made.

“It’s more than the lost business and costs,” pizzeria owner Rotolo said, noting thefts affect the mental health of staff members and will likely cause insurance rates to go up even if he doesn’t make a claim.

In maybe a bit of getting even, Rotolo said the repair crew summoned Tuesday indicated to him it’s possible the thief got hit with some of the Freon from the unit and maybe that scared the thief off or hurt them.

Totals

Thefts of copper, primarily from streetlights, has hit many parts of the valley with some neighborhoods virtually total dark for months.

Numbers provided by local governments give an indication of the extent of the problem:

City of Las Vegas

Dating back to October 2023, the city has incurred more than $500,000 in time and materials related to copper wire theft, city spokesman Jace Radke said in an email. This equates to approximately 100 incidents during that time frame.

About 20 more incidents are in the queue to be repaired and 17 incidents are in various stages of being repaired.

Dating back to January 2022, the city is over the $1 million mark for copper wire theft damage and over 100 miles of copper wire replaced and/or repaired.

Clark County

Since 2022, thieves have ripped off about 1 million feet of copper wire in the county, costing the government millions of dollars, according to Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft.

“That’s just in unincorporated Clark County,” Naft said. “This is a problem in every municipality and jurisdiction in Southern Nevada and in the state.”

Problems created by copper theft led county officials to pursue alternatives for streetlights in trouble zones. A dozen solar-powered streetlights were recently installed on East St. Louis Street as a pilot project to see if such lights might be an economically feasible option.

The county will review data tied to the pilot program at a later date to determine if it makes sense financially to install them at other trouble spots in the county. Compared with a standard streetlight, solar versions require a higher level of maintenance to ensure they operate properly. A big part of the program will be tracking maintenance of the solar panels.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com.