HOUSTON- The Houston Police Department continues to crackdown on copper metal thefts.
HPD created a Metal Theft Task force a decade ago to combat the crime that now carries felony charges. The task force is tracking a 30% drop in the crime since May 2014.
Sergeant Jesse Fite, who leads the task force, explained the decline is based on two things: shutting down scrap metal yards that refuse to follow city and state regulations and by identifying repeat criminals.
Abel Pena is one of those repeat offenders, according to police. The 53-year old man is believed to climb through manholes to access CenterPoint Energy cables that run under I-10.
Fite said Pena has wiggled through manholes to access the wiring multiple times. In one instance, police said Pena allegedly cut and pulled up 1,600 feet of cable. That’s more than a quarter-mile of wiring.
According to its website, CenterPoint Energy supplies power to 2.3 million customers. Houston police explained that when Pena removes some of the electrical cabling, power will then go out in certain parts of the city until CenterPoint can replace the wiring.