Scrap Metal Facility Raided for Stolen Materials
Raids on six Indianapolis scrap yards Monday night culminated a year-long investigation into a company’s alleged purchasing of stolen materials, according to the Chicago Tribune.
A spokesman from the company, OmniSource, said it “works with utilities and contractors to encourage the marking of aluminum siding and copper pipes so they can be identified. He said the company also trains officers and employees in how to identify stolen scrap metal,” reports the Tribune.
Copper is a valuable metal for recycling, also making it a target for theft. Photo: Sturgis-iron.com
Ironically, over 50 Indianapolis police officers worked security off-duty at one of the yards before the raid. Whether any officers are implicated in the investigation is currently unknown.
“We were as surprised as anyone to learn of this,” said OmniSource spokesman Ben Eisbart. “It’s somewhat ironic because we have over the years cooperated with police to train officers in how to identify stolen scrap material.”
High prices for certain metals such as aluminum and copper drive the demand for scrap metal. For example, a ton of aluminum trades for almost $600, whereas steel cans trade only for $69 per ton at current market prices as listed on ScrapIndex.com. According to the Omnisource’s site, metal recycling in the U.S. is estimated to be a $20 billion industry, with Omnisource’s annual sales revenues around $3 billion.
Beyond its Indiana operations, Omnisource also has locations in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
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G. Platt
posted on February 26th, 2009 at 5:42 am
It seems to me that the authorities could have spent the year investigating the thieves. It must be more fun to criminalize a good corporate citizen like Omnisource.