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OGDEN — Copper thieves have struck again, this time at Bonneville High, leaving the school temporarily without air conditioning.
Early Saturday morning, thieves climbed up onto the roof and stripped copper wire from three air conditioning units. They then jumped off the building and dragged armfuls of copper wiring down with them. For some reason, they didn't succeed in getting the wire from a fourth unit.
"The next morning we got a call about it from the school that they had seen some copper and got looking around and found there had been some thefts," said Lt Matthew Bell with the Weber County Sheriff's office.
Investigators are looking at the school's surveillance footage to try to catch those responsible, which shows a "two-door, light-colored vehicle" picking up the wire after it had been stashed near a pine tree at the school. So far, Lt. Bell says the footage isn't giving them much more information about the specific type of car or how many people might be involved. But police are asking residents to be vigilant and on the lookout for copper thieves.
"If they see something that's unusual, we want them to call us and we'll come out and take a look and see if there are people around," he said.
For now, the school district still has to pay a lot of money to replace the units. "We're going to be into this $15- to $16,000 dollars to replace those units," said Weber district spokesperson Nate Taggart. "We do have insurance, but nevertheless it's a waste. It's a shame that it happened."
"It does a lot of damage. It costs a lot to replace for what little they get out of the copper," Bell said.
Classes will resume at the end of August and the school says it should have the air conditioning units replaced by then.
