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Last May STB reported on an extensive successful theft of copper wire from the Link guideway between Rainier Beach and Tukwila. King 5 is now reporting that two suspects are in custody have been identified:

Prosecutors say DNA left on Gatorade bottles lead them to two men suspected in the largest known metal theft in Washington state.

Donald Howard Turpin, 54, and Lee Russell Skelly, 44, are accused of stealing 4.3 miles of copper wiring from the Sound Transit Light Rail System between November 2010 through August of 2011.
“Stealing miles of copper wire must be hard work, because it was the defendants’ Gatorade bottles left at the scene which ultimately was their undoing,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg.

Prosecutors say the two men allegedly committed the theft by entering maintenance hatches in a tunnel that runs below the light rail between the SeaTac and Rainer Beach Rail Stations. They would enter at night and remove the copper wire. They allegedly dropped the wire through air vents and then drove along the line, picking up the cut wire at various locations.

Evidence gathered by King County Sheriff’s Detectives shows that the men allegedly took the wire to various scrap metal recycling businesses in King County and sold the metal. Turpin had a state issued business license which would allow him to scrap the metal with little if any scrutiny by the buyers.

Both men are charged with Burglary Second Degree and Trafficking in Stolen Property First Degree. Turpin is also charged with Theft First Degree with a special sentencing aggravator.

If convicted as charged, the sentence range for Turpin is 63 to 84 months in prison. Skelly faces up to one year in jail.

UPDATE: The original version of this article erroneously claimed the suspects were in custody. According to KOMO, Turpin is at large and wanted on a $50,000 warrant, while Skelly is scheduled to appear in court on June 27. We regret the error.

16 Replies to “Copper Theft Suspects Identified”

  1. 84 months? 1 year? Free healthcare, food and a roof over their heads. Wow…

    What has ST done to prevent similar events in the future?

    1. I have wondered that myself. Even before repairs were made sound transit has installed surveillance cameras to monitor the tracks between seatac and Rainer beach.

    2. Yes, it seems like there should be additional penalties when a crime has a broad social cost, such as harming all the riders of LINK.

      I was reading about how bike thieves pretty much operate with impunity, even if caught because the crime is so small in dollar cost. However, in terms of social cost of robbing mobility but also having a whole society have to plan around expensive locks and safe places to store bikes, the cost is enormous and hence bike thieves should have to bear some of that.

  2. Good works cops, assuming these two are truly guilty.

    Presumption of innocence until proven guilty in America, however I appreciate the police staying on the case. Theft from transit in any fashion is theft from all of us.

  3. Good that they caught them, they stole from everybody. I wonder how they matched their DNA? Don’t you have to have some sort of prior record to have that on file?

    I wonder if it’s technically feasible during manufacturing to engrave a serial number every couple of feet on large installations of copper such as this. It would provide a way for the metal recyclers to look up and verify original purchaser information to contact if they became suspicious. Or simply to log the sale.

  4. This calls for greater scrutiny of those possessing and applying for business licenses related to metal scrapping. If all you need to escape suspicion when selling stolen goods is a business license, that is a pretty big loophole.

    Finger printing?
    Background checks?

    Maybe watermarking the wire in some way as suggested above might also help, but that does sound pretty expensive…

  5. They have installed security cameras to help deter future crimes. But maybe instead we should just run trains 24\7?

  6. Who sells copper wiring anyway? Besides thieves? What is the purpose of selling copper wiring? Anyone who sells the wiring should get extra scrutiny, as if they are Tea Party members…

    1. When buildings get demolished, I would imagine that whichever company is doing the demolition would attempt to recycle whatever they can, whenever it makes economic sense to do so, and take whatever money they can get as additional income. This is perfectly legitimate.

    2. Anyone who sells the wiring should get extra scrutiny, as if they are Tea Party members…

      Good point! Profile those right wing Christians and most of all look at a girl with far away eyes.

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