Pike County sheriff’s deputies recently arrested two people who are allegedly part of a seasonal crime trend throughout the South — air conditioner thefts.
On Monday, deputies booked 32-year-old Travis Mitchell, 2120 Dixie Road, Brookhaven, and 28-year-old Adrianna Mack, 1052 Herman Allen Road, Magnolia, on charges of petit larceny.
Chief Investigator Bruce Fairburn said the suspects allegedly stole air conditioning units from the Leblanc Road property of David Dillon in Magnolia.
Fairburn said deputies allegedly caught Mitchell and Mack in possession of the units at a local recycling center.
Dillon, an appliance repairman, told the Enterprise-Journal that the suspects took three central air conditioning units, 10 air conditioning coils and three furnaces that were in his back yard.
He said his cousin called him shortly after witnessing the theft and gave him the license plate number of the suspects’ vehicle.
Believing he knew where his appliances would eventually turn up, Dillon immediately called 911 then drove to McComb Metal & Recycling.
Deputies met him at the recycling center and allegedly found Mitchell and Mack in possession of the stolen goods, Dillon said.
The suspects face misdemeanor charges.
The crimes fit the trend of air conditioner thefts that plague communities during the hot summer months.
McComb police detective Deska Varnado said thieves often sell the aluminum and copper contained inside the units.
“The scrap yards are not supposed to buy them ... but the thieves are cutting (the metals) so that you can’t tell it came from an A/C,” Varnado said.
Often thieves will either rip air conditioners out of windows or break open the units, take the copper and leave the rest behind.
“By any means necessary, they get them out of the window,” he said.
While Varnado could not give exact numbers on the thefts, the Enterprise-Journal has recorded a number of stolen air conditioner units reported by law enforcement and individuals since June, including:
• One unit reported stolen in the newspaper on June 4 from the chapel at Cook Funeral Home in Gloster, a unit reported stolen from Gisele Walker’s home on McComb Street and two units reported stolen from the 24th Street property of Reddy Smith, both in McComb.
• A unit deleted from Amite County’s inventory after it was stolen from the District 3 barn.
• A unit stolen from a home on Chester Reeves Road and reported on June 18.
• Two units reported stolen in July from the Pleasant Valley A.M.E. Zion Church in Osyka.
• One unit reported stolen in July from Toleda Ferguson’s home on Pleasant Drive.
The global demand for copper has made air conditioner theft a problem for many areas.
On July 22, the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board had to shut down one of its offices because thieves stole several of the office’s rooftop air conditioning units, according to the Times-Picayune.
Another brazen theft occurred in South Carolina last month when, according to WLOX-TV, police arrested a father and his son for allegedly stealing $45,000 worth of copper from a hotel’s air conditioning units.
The problem has gotten the attention of security companies, such as Emerging Innovations, a Florida-based company that offers GPS trackers and motion sensors specifically designed for residential and commercial air conditioning units.
For the average resident, however, sometimes a few screws or a cage can deter a thief.
Pike County Chief Deputy Steve Rushing said some residents simply place units in windows without bolting them down, making them easy targets for thieves.
“It’s just like anything else,” he said. “It’s quick money.”
Rushing said air conditioner thefts might seem like a big issue because it is concentrated during the summer months, but once temperatures drop, so should the number of thefts.
