California Attorney General Rob Bonta announces effort to crack down on copper theft in Northern California

In June 2024, an internet blackout hit a large swath of Shasta County. In the dead of night, fiber cables were slashed in south Redding, ostensibly because of their proximity to something more materially valuable: copper wiring. The incident affected communication for thousands of homes and businesses. AT&T offered tipsters $20,000 for information that could lead to the arrest of those stealing and selling copper, whose illicit endeavors can damage vital communication infrastructure in the process.

That incident was just one of multiple over recent years. A month later, the Sheriff’s department arrested an Anderson man for allegedly stealing copper wiring from a construction site, and in 2018 two men were caught for allegedly burglarizing thousands of dollars worth of copper products from a PG&E site. 

Now, the issue has escalated to the purview of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who hosted a roundtable last week in San Jose with law enforcement, state and local officials, businesses, and utility providers to discuss copper theft in northern California.

“While the value of copper remains high, we can expect copper wire will continue to be a target of theft and vandalism — which is why we are bringing together Northern California leaders today to discuss collaborative solutions,” Bonta’s office wrote in Aug. 21 press release. 

Approximately one-third of the roughly 6,000 incidents of copper theft and infrastructure vandalism reported across the nation in 2024 occurred in California, the state says. But northern counties are not the only places where this occurs. This year, copper theft has made local headlines from Fresno down to Los Angeles. 

Tim Mapes, a spokesperson for the Sheriff, told Shasta Scout that local law enforcement is “aware of the California Attorney General’s focus on copper wire theft, which has also impacted our community and caused real disruptions. We welcome strong enforcement on this issue and are committed to working alongside state partners to hold offenders accountable.”  

What’s actually happening? 

Copper wire theft follows an extensive process. Thieves extract cables from construction sites or underground, sometimes damaging other wires that connect to essential systems and services in the process. The cable is cut into small pieces and those segments are burned to remove the sheath that protects and insulates the core of raw copper. That copper is sold to scrap metal dealers, some of whom, the AG said, “are willing to accept the valuable commodity purportedly without knowing its origin,” due to high demand.

A rise in copper theft prompted the Los Angeles County Assemblymember Mark González to impose harsher penalties for vendors who sell and buy scrap metal, which is referred to as “junk” in bill text, if they do not abide by existing industry policies. As it stands, junk buyers and recyclers are required to maintain a written record of all their sales, including who they bought from and where the sale occurred.

Existing laws also legally prohibit vendors from buying copper and other metals that were once the property of certain utility companies, unless they’ve established that the seller has the legal right to sell it. The new bill would escalate fines for this particular violation from a maximum of $1,000 to $5,000. 

Why is copper so valuable?

Copper has an infinite life cycle, meaning that it can be recycled and repurposed in perpetuity. It is a vital resource in the American economy, regularly used in electronic wiring and construction materials. It’s chemical compounds ,such as copper sulfate, can be utilized as an agricultural poison or for water purification.   

Domestic copper mining accounts for just over half of American needs, and the price of copper has soared this summer after President Donald Trump unveiled new tariffs on copper to incentivize investment in the American copper industry. While the state of Arizona has massive copper reserves, the U.S. has scant facilities to refine copper — a part of the industry that’s dominated by China. 

In July, the Trump administration announced a 50% tariff on copper imports, effective Aug. 1, with 90% of such imports coming from Chile, Canada and Peru in 2024. Among the top copper mining nations last year, the United States ranked fifth, after Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peru and China. 

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