Copper thieves strike Costa Mesa car wash

Michael Howe pulled up to the Metro Car Wash in Costa Mesa to open it for business just as he has for the past 21 years and immediately knew that something was wrong. Air pipes along the side of the building used in detailing cars were missing.

Howe’s business was the most recent victim of a trend in urban copper strip mining, one that peaked in 2006 but has remained a steady annoyance to business owners and police ever since.

“You notice it right away,” Howe said about the condition of the shop upon his discovery on June 19. In his more than two decades at the carwash, something like this had never happened, he said.

Thefts in the city usually involve copper wiring, piping and backflow valves — the type seen poking out of the ground along surface streets, Det. Mike Cohen said.

“One comes across my desk about every two weeks,” Cohen said, and that’s a hefty estimate. The number may seem impressive but represents an improvement since 2006, following a large number of arrests between February and March, police said.

Part of the problem in apprehending the thieves is that they use a legitimate means of moving their product. Recycling companies set up in a fashion similar to can drop-offs throughout the county require only photo identification for those looking to make money off scrap metal.

At $2.20 to $2.80 per pound, one night of crime can reap quite a payoff, Cohen said. Police did not disclose the loss at the Metro Car Wash theft. Most thefts are in the thousands of dollars, police said.

Cohen inherited the post of metal theft investigator after his promotion from patrolman at the beginning of this year. A few of his co-workers discovered that he had been investigating some of the thefts in 2006 and gave him some of their reports that related to the crimes.

After poring through the material, Cohen compiled a massive case involving several suspects, including three Costa Mesa residents.

On March 5, police, with the help of Orange County Sheriffs, arrested Jeffrey Scott Gibson, 50, and Teri Marie Hackett, 48, who were discovered stripping the inside of an abandoned Yamaha dealership in Laguna Niguel.

Authorities found the two in possession of bundles of copper wire and aluminum framing near the front door. The thieves had also begun pulling out some of the piping.

Gibson and Hackett were convicted of second-degree burglary and are serving their sentences, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said.

Patrick Javier Nevarez, 40, who was allegedly with the two, is scheduled for pretrial hearings Friday at the Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, prosecutors said. A jury trial has also been set for July 16.