Increase in metal thefts tied to drugs

Scott Dare was out to dinner around 7:30 Friday night when he got a call that police had found two storm-sewer grates missing from a Fort Washington shopping center.

"By 9:30 p.m., it was up to eight; by the end of the night, it was a total of 13," said Dare, vice president of Dare Living Associates, which manages the center and other commercial properties.

Copper pipes, metal shopping carts, air conditioners, bronze mausoleum doors from grave sites - all have been recent hot targets for thieves, and police believe that drugs are the motivating force.

This week, two Montgomery County brothers were charged with theft and related offenses in the theft of about 1,000 storm-sewer grates, valued at $500,000, in several towns in the region and selling them for about $9,000 as scrap over a six-week period.

Police said the brothers sold the grates, which weigh about 100 pounds each and cost $475, to two Philadelphia scrap-metal yards.

Kevin Steele, Montgomery County first assistant district attorney, said his office is investigating the case and is working with the other jurisdictions involved.

Determining that the firm's operators broke the law, police said, isn't a simple exercise.

"They could be contractors that legitimately have" the grates, said Lt. Michael Martin of the Upper Merion Township police.

A charge of receiving stolen property would require evidence of knowledge that the materials were stolen, officials said.

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Increase in metal thefts tied to drugs