{"id":436611,"date":"2026-08-18T21:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T21:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/436611\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T21:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T21:08:07","slug":"los-angeles-leads-the-nation-in-wire-cable-thefts-heres-whats-being-done-about-the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/436611\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles leads the nation in wire, cable thefts. Here’s what’s being done about the problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — August has been a difficult month for mobile phone and internet users across the Los Angeles area, with separate cable theft incidents disrupting service for thousands of customers.<\/p>\n

Spectrum was hit first on Aug. 7 when fiber-optic lines were cut. A few days later, Verizon lines were also cut and stolen<\/a>, leaving customers without phone and internet service.<\/p>\n

Verizon customers should be receiving calls and texts again after a widespread outage impacted thousands of phone and internet customers on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Authorities say attacks targeting phone, internet and other communications infrastructure are increasing across the country. Last year, such incidents rose 59% nationwide, according to The Internet & Television Association.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles led the nation in cable and wire thefts<\/a>, with more than double the number reported in Houston, the second-highest city. Investigators point to the rising value of copper as a major factor behind the trend.<\/p>\n

“You have crews that are just constantly doing this and … I would say it’s still an upward climbing trend,” said Capt. Calvin Mah of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Major Crimes Bureau.<\/p>\n

Mah, who serves on the department’s Metal Theft Detail, said the increasing price of copper has contributed to more theft attempts. Copper prices have climbed from just over $2 per pound a decade ago to $6.61 per pound today.<\/p>\n

7 On Your Side is digging into where stolen copper wire actually goes and speaking to one company trying to do things the right way.<\/p>\n

AT&T has also been affected by copper thefts. The company said some of its copper was recently recovered at a metal recycling facility in South El Monte.<\/p>\n

Mah said the facility owner told investigators he did not know the copper was stolen and believed it had come from a licensed vendor.<\/p>\n

No arrests have been made, and detectives are continuing efforts to identify the seller.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Spectrum and Verizon are offering separate $25,000 rewards for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for this month’s cable thefts.<\/p>\n

Authorities said a particularly frustrating aspect of the recent incidents is that the communications lines that knocked thousands of customers offline contained no copper and had little value to thieves.<\/p>\n

“They’re thinking they’re stealing copper wire when in fact they’re stealing fiber optics,” Mah said. “But they don’t know that at the time they’re stealing it.”<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

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