Junkie stole the manhole covers

From NBC New York:

Police have arrested a man suspected of stealing more than a dozen manhole covers across the city in a spree that stumped utility officials for weeks.

Sources tell NBC 4 New York that the 46-year-old suspect, Andrew Modica, has admitted to stealing at least 18 of the covers across Brooklyn and Queens.

Modica told police that he is a crack and heroin addict and has been stealing the covers to sell for scrap metal and support his addiction. He told police he may have stolen more than 18 but could not remember because of his drug use, sources said.

Modica said he was paid about 15 cents per pound at two scrap yards, or about $30 per cover.

Witnesses told police that he would pull up to a manhole in a truck, surround it with cones, hook the cover and use a hydraulic car back to raise it into the pickup truck bed. He would leave either the cones or a construction barrel over the hole when he was done, police said.