Grave robbing at Maple Grove

From DNA Info:

Thieves have been stealing bronze vases attached to memorial markers from Maple Grove Cemetery to sell them as scrap.

The problem at the Kew Gardens resting place started a little more than five years ago, as first reported by the New York Post. About 500 vases have been stolen so far, according to Bonnie Dixon, general manager at the cemetery.

“It’s just so disturbing,” Dixon said. “I can’t imagine how anybody would do that but people do and it's sad.”

The vases, which are engraved with the letters "MG" for Maple Grove, cost about $250 each and weigh about 2.5 pounds, Dixon said.

A pound of bronze sells for about $1.20 to $1.50, according to local scrap metal buyers.

Schumer proposes crackdown on metal theft

From CBS:

Sen. Charles Schumer says the federal government needs to crack down on the problem of scrap metal theft.

Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday is calling for federal regulations on scrap metal sales, including a requirement that scrap yards and recyclers maintain detailed records on their purchases, and require those selling metal to provide documentation.

The senator is also calling for the creation of a new federal crime of stealing metal from critical infrastructure like railroads.

Schumer cited the recent theft of copper cable from New York City subway lines as one example of what he says is a national problem.

Scrap metal theft has risen over the past decade as thieves look to cash in on rising metal prices.

Next time, use a bank

From CBS 2:

Workers at a scrap yard in Queens were looking for a couple who lost their life savings on Saturday.

Thousands of dollars were found inside of a refrigerator that a man brought to Atlantic Recycling in Ozone Park. What the man apparently did not know was that his wife had stashed the couple’s life savings inside of the appliance.

The woman showed up, but left without giving workers her name when she was told that it would be impossible to find the money. One worker took it upon himself to track down the cash and he did.

“Sure enough the fridge was there. The only thing in the fridge was her money, exactly where she said it was,” the worker told CBS 2, “In this heat I worry about her getting stressed out over losing that money.”

Crimes of opportunity

From A Walk in the Park:

Park Enforcement Police and NYPD and have made multiple arrests for people stealing material from the the Rockaway beach boardwalk destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, NYC Park Advocates has learned.

As aluminum prices continue to rise at least ten thieves have been caught stealing aluminum railings and expensive rain forest Ipe boardwalk wood belonging to the Parks Department.

Police in the 100th Pct. have also written at least a dozen summonses for people stealing items on the street to be sold as scrap metal.

Expensive trains scrapped

From the Daily News:

The state announced that it has sold four sets of rusting trains to scrap dealers — an embarrassing end for a once-grand plan to create high-speed rail service between Manhattan and Albany.

The sale of the trains and spare parts netted a mere $420,000, a far cry from the tens of millions of dollars taxpayers sank into the doomed project.

The trains were among seven retired Turboliners former Gov. George Pataki’s administration acquired from Amtrak in 1998.

Each of the trains consisted of two engines and three passenger cars — and were supposed to be refurbished for high-speed use.

But after spending $70 million on the project, the state could only get three of the seven to run — and then only sporadically.

They were plagued with problems, from fires to poor air conditioning.
By 2002 the project was halted and Amtrak towed the three barely working trains to a rail yard in Delaware.

The remaining four have been rusting away in a rail yard outside of Schenectady, costing taxpayers $150,000 a year just in storage costs.

In June, a frustrated Gov. Cuomo announced the state would finally rid itself of the trains, even auctioning them off for scrap if necessary.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Scrap metal thieves to face steep fines

From the NY Post:

The City Council is declaring war on people who steal recyclables and manhole covers.

Those who heist paper, large appliances and big metal items put out on the sidewalk for Sanitation trucks would be subject to $5,000 fines under a bill to be considered at a City Hall hearing today.

Those who rip off manhole covers — which can be sold for scrap metal — would be subject to $3,000 fines on top of the punishment they’d get under state criminal laws, under another bill.

The proposals follow exclusive reports in The Post about thefts of manhole covers, used appliances and other recyclable materials.

As prices for recyclables rebound from their recession lows, more and more thieves are lifting items left out for Sanitation trucks to pick up.

Legitimate recycling businesses and the city are losing millions to the trash thieves.

How about increasing penalties for businesses that buy them?

Clampdown on curbside scrap metal thieves

From the NY Post:

The city Department of Sanitation’s police force has beefed up neighborhood patrols to combat the theft of valuable recyclable scrap metal carted to the curb.

“It’s a continuing problem, one that the department is very aggressively trying to combat,” said Vito Turso, a spokesman for the Sanitation Department, noting that old ovens, refrigerators and air-conditioning units command high prices at scrap yards these days.

Last year, a whopping 46 percent of the appliances put out for recycling were not at the location at the time of pickup — apparently taken by roving scrap-metal thieves.

That’s a jump from 36 percent the previous year. So far, for 2012, the rate is at 43 percent, or roughly 11,000 missed pickups.

The city has a contract with Sims Metal Management to recycle the scrap — and the city gets a cut of Sims’ action in return.

Sims has estimated it loses up to $4 million a year from the thievery, meaning city coffers are getting hit hard, too.

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.

Metal thieves take anything not nailed down

From NY1:

The hunt is on for iron tree guards that have gone missing from Manhattan's Restaurant Row.

The Times Square Alliance says more than 20 iron guards on 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues disappeared last weekend.

Sources say there is a chance the guards were removed to accommodate work on the block, but they are not yet ruling out theft.

The alliance wonders whether the missing guards are connected to a pattern of stolen manhole covers.

From COMET:

At our last meeting we discussed the problem of missing fire hydrant caps that are being stolen by metal scrappers. I happened to see a fire engine outside of Frank's deli today and stopped to ask how important it was that the hydrants have caps. The fireman told me that fire hydrant caps are necessary to keep the "threads" on the hydrant from rusting. If there is a fire and there are rusted threads they will have a problem attaching the hose when there's a fire and every minute counts. A delay in response could result in the loss of life or property! Here's what he said:

Call 311 and have them report it to the Department of Environmental Protection. Be sure to have the address nearest to the hydrant. If they hydrant isn't near an address, provide the street and cross streets.

He said some fire houses have a supply of hydrant caps. You could stop by with the address to see if they might be able to replace it.