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Dayton Police Detective Jamie Bullens (left) gets information from Darren Ferguson and Peggy Powell, both of Dayton, as they stand at the customer service counter of First Street Recycling Inc, located at 1321 E. First St in Dayton. They both were interviewed at the business after turning in commercial grade copper for cash. The case is still under investigation. Bullens is on the Metal Theft Unit of the Dayton Police Department.Click to enlarge

DAYTON — Dayton police Detective Jamie Bullens was looking through a bin of suspicious scrap metal at First Street Recycling when he saw a couple walk in carrying a bag of copper pipes.

Darren Ferguson pulled out seven large pipes with pinched ends and placed them on the floor scale.

"Plumbers don't usually break the pipes off," said Bullens, on Thursday, June 26. "And they don't usually walk in off the street carrying a bag of copper pipes."

Ferguson brought his girlfriend, Peggy Powell along to sign for the scrap metal because she had a valid driver's license. Workers said Powell had been at the center six times.

As Bullens patted Ferguson down, the man said he didn't have valid identification, a violation of a city ordinance passed in July 2006.

The ordinance hasn't worked. Copper thefts have increased so rapidly that Dayton police have created a metal theft unit. Bullens and Detective Jennifer Godsey visit five Dayton-area scrap yards every day. Since Jan. 1, the detectives have recovered more than $250,000 in stolen metal and made nearly 100 arrests.