Copper Wire Theft - ABC7 Los Angeles

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Copper Wire Theft

Copper theft leaves Pasadena bakery without AC during SoCal heat

Jul 21

Copper theft cuts landline service at East LA Sheriff's Station

Apr 23

Rising copper prices linked to thefts, contribute to outages in LA

We've been reporting for some time now on the rash of wire and cable thefts. In fact, Los Angeles has become the wire theft capital of the nation. We did some digging into the problem and what's being done about it.

Aug 18

Solar streetlights popping up in parts of LA

Feb 10

Copper wire theft suspect pulled from Chatsworth manhole

Jan 27

$16,000 in copper wire stolen from LADWP facility near LAX, police say

Jan 19

7 On Your Side digs into where stolen copper wire ends up

Nov 21, 2025

Where does all the copper wire go? ABC7 goes on raid

Nov 14, 2025

Copper wire thieves target EV chargers across Los Angeles

Oct 23, 2025

Latest Videos

2:59

Los Angeles leads the nation in wire, cable thefts. Here's what's being done about the problem

Aug 18

3:15

'It's just trying times:' Copper theft leaves Pasadena bakery without AC during SoCal extreme heat

Jul 19

2:40

Copper thieves shut down landline phone service at East LA Sheriff's Station

Apr 23

1:58

Solar-powered streetlights debut in Lincoln Heights, Cypress Park

Feb 10

1:24

Copper wire theft suspect in custody after hourslong standoff in Chatsworth manhole

Jan 27

1:15

Copper wire theft suspect refuses to come out of Chatsworth manhole

Jan 27

0:27

1 arrested after $16,000 in copper wire stolen from LADWP facility near LAX, police say

Jan 19

5:15

7 On Your Side digs into where stolen copper wire actually ends up. Here's what we found

Nov 21, 2025

Latest Stories

Cable copper thieves hit AT&T underground vault in South Los Angeles

Copper wire thefts have left streets in the dark and many people without their landlines. Thieves even hit an AT&T vault where a lot of phone connections are made in South L.A.

Oct 17, 2025

LA City Council advances reward program to combat metal and wire theft

The Los Angeles City Council is advancing a plan to offer rewards for tips on metal and copper wire theft.

Oct 15, 2025

ABC7 comes to woman's aid once again, helps restore landline service for 2nd time

7 On Your Side has been showing you how rampant copper theft has been impacting telephone landline service. One of the first people to tell us about this problem lost her phone service again.

Oct 14, 2025

AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File

Verizon says LA County outage began after vandals cut multiple fiber lines

Verizon customers throughout the Los Angeles County area reported an outage that affected their service, which the company said was caused by acts of vandalism.

Oct 10, 2025

State bill waiting to be signed by Gov. Newsom would penalize the purchase of stolen copper wire

Local leaders are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to crack down on copper wire theft. A bill sitting on his desk would tighten laws around buying and selling scrap metal.

Oct 7, 2025