Metal Thieves Spoil Food Bank

In Indiana, a food bank was hit on Friday night, but not for any cash, or even any food, but for the copper pipes in the refrigerator units. But since the thieves disabled the refrigerators just before the weekend, workers there did not discover the theft until Monday, and all the spoiled food thereafter. For only a few hundred dollars worth of scrap metal, the thieves caused 20,000 dollars in repairs, and almost 500,000 dollars in the loss of the spoiled food.

As more stories like this, like the looting for metal in the evacuated homes near the Tahoe fire, and irrigation pipes for farms, it's no surprise that legislators are beginning to pay attention to this problem, specifically going after the scrap metal dealers.