The JournalNews reported on Wednesday that copper theft is on the rise in the area and thieves recently damaged air conditioning units at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton that may cost $86,000 to repair.
Butler County Jail inmates who provide the same information can earn a reward of free commissary items, Jones said. The money initially is being funded by $1,000 donations from the sheriff’s office and Hamilton Scrap Processors.
“We’re going to ask others to donate to this and we’re going to go after the source — the thieves,” Jones said.
To further combat scrap metal theft, the scrap yards will no longer allow people to enter the site with a grocery cart as of Sept 1.
“You can’t steal a grocery cart from the supermarket and then haul stolen goods in it,” Jones said. “Then we all have to pay an additional price for groceries and the scrap yards, they don’t take them, so ... the police have to deal with them.”
An additional $500 is being offered for information leading to the conviction of those who caused more the damage at the Fitton Center.
“It’s not going to happen a third time and if it does, we want to put somebody behind bars for it,” said Hamilton Police Chief Neil Ferdelman.
Jones said those who steal scrap metal give a bad name to those who do it in legal manner because of difficult economic times.
One of those people is 50-year-old Hamilton native Sharlotte Davis, who said she and her sister set out at 4 a.m. each day to hunt for scrap metal items set out curbside.
“We’re both on disability and we have to do the best we can to make ends meet,” she said. “That’s all we’re doing, trying to keep the city clean of old scrap, save the earth by recycling and make a couple of dollars.”
Call the “Stolen for Scrap” hotline at (513) 858-9252.
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