MONROE — Whoever broke into a Snohomish County PUD substation last week left a generous trail of clues.
Monroe police believe they also were as punctual as they were predictable.
As a result, they nabbed two suspects with stolen wire in the trunk of their car.
Monroe police were called to the PUD substation Thursday morning to follow up on a burglary report.
A PUD employee escorted an officer to an empty recycling bin. It was within the confines of the chain-link fenced yard where live high-voltage wires pose the risk of electrocution.
The recycling bin was empty. It had been full of wire scraps the night before.
Stealing the wire was “not only illegal, but it’s not a very smart to do,” said Neil Neroutsos, a PUD spokesman.
The officer and PUD worker followed a path of dropped wire remnants through a gate and toward an access road and railroad tracks. The trail ended with a large pile of wire stashed in some blackberry bushes. Grass and sticks had been placed atop the pile for camouflage.
The officer left it there, but returned around 6 p.m. as the sky grew dark.
Fifteen minutes later, a purple Chrysler PT Cruiser drove down the dead-end access road and pulled over near where the wire had been left.
A few minutes later, the officer stopped the car as it was leaving the area.
Police obtained a search warrant and found the stolen wire inside the trunk.
The suspects are a Monroe man, 26, and a Gold Bar man, 44.
“Charges are pending on both of these subjects,” Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.
The Monroe man was released while the case is being investigated. The Gold Bar man was arrested on a separate warrant for possession and trafficking in stolen property.
Scrap metal is more than an $87 billion industry each year in the United States. Thieves follow the market and know the metal can be hard to trace.
In Snohomish County over the years, crooks have stolen church bells, funeral urns, bronze vases from grave sites, catalytic converters from cars, brass fittings for firefighting, sewer grates, manhole covers, copper cable wire used for Internet access and even a 3,121-pound propeller.
Often, the damage left behind far exceeds the amount of money gained from a theft.
In 2013, for instance, the PUD saw more than $117,000 in damage to equipment while the actual value of the metal stolen was less than $1,000, Neroutsos said.
The PUD has been increasing surveillance with cameras at many of its substations. Much of the fencing has been retrofitted with mini-mesh, making it harder to cut through.
The PUD also is starting to use a copper weld wire that includes steel.
That’s bad news for the thieves.
“It makes it no value to a metal recycler since the copper cannot be separated from the steel,” Neroutsos said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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