By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
A man who Sacramento police said was electrocuted late Tuesday night as he attempted to steal copper wire has been identified by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office as Gregory Allen Alexander, 39, of Roseville.
Police said he was trying to cut a high-voltage power line to steal copper wire for its recycling value.
"Deputies responded, along with firefighters," said Sacramento police spokesman Norm Leong. "They found a man ... who appears to have been trying to steal copper wiring from the electrical lines in the SMUD box."
Police said Alexander died in an attempt to steal copper wire at Harry Renfree baseball field near Auburn Boulevard and Watt Avenue about 10:30 p.m. A city pump was also damaged in an apparent theft at the baseball complex.
Leong said the man used a bolt cutters or another type of cutting device. Alexander was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A Sacramento Municipal Utility District troubleshooter also responded to the scene. SMUD had to temporarily cut electricity to the line, apparently to remove bolt cutters from the power cable.
Sacramento police said that copper wire thefts have been increasing within the city limits. From Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, 2009, only 23 copper thefts were reported to police. In 2010, during the same time frame, there were 63 reported copper thefts.
A sampling of where thieves have struck throughout the region:
- Thieves cut power in a section of West Sacramento when they stole power lines from poles on Jan. 31.
- Power was cut to sports field lighting in Woodland when thieves took 1,000 feet of copper wire on Dec. 18.
- Thieves pulled copper wire from the electrical systems serving metering lights at two locations: the Northgate onramp to eastbound Interstate 80 in Sacramento and the Prairie City entrance to westbound Highway 50 in Folsom in December.
- Copper was removed from several air conditioning units on the roof of a strip mall on Nov. 26 during the night in the 3200 block of Truxel Boulevard. Three nights later, somebody took copper from air conditioning units at another strip mall, this one in the 3300 block of Northgate Boulevard.
- In August, copper wire was taken from a school in Orangevale.
- Roseville police reported in August that thieves cut and removed copper electrical wire to classrooms at Oakmont High School in Roseville, Dry Creek Elementary School west of Roseville and Antelope Meadows Elementary school in Antelope.
- Two Sacramento men were arrested early Dec. 15 as they allegedly prepared to remove copper from equipment on the roof of Las Palmas School in North Sacramento.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
KTXL: Copper wire thief electrocuted
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