Bold thieves resort to stealing wires off telephone poles in Georgia, cops say

Thieves have reached a new level of audacity in one Georgia county by stealing wires the from atop telephone poles under the cover of darkness.

The Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office says there have been “repeated cases” in recent months — and the first clue is always a sudden loss of TV and cable access for nearby homes. Catoosa County is on the Tennessee state line, near Chattanooga.

“The locations are in a remote area of the county and the crimes have been occurring during the night when there is less traffic on the roadways,” the sheriff’s office said in a July 14 news release.

“Evidence obtained indicated the offenders had used a ‘deer stand’ type ladder to climb the poles and would be driving a pickup truck carrying the stand and possible ladder.”

County officials report the culprits have been clever enough to target telephone and cable TV lines, rather than deadly power lines.

It’s the copper they want, a commodity that is in high demand and very valuable, experts say.

Catoosa County investigators say the thieves have slipped up in some instances, and tried to steal fiber optic cables that don’t have copper. Either way, the end result is “thousands of dollars in damages,” the sheriff’s office said.

The thefts have involved telephone poles along the same three roads, suggesting the thieves live nearby, officials said.

Hundreds have reacted to the alert on social media, including some who said they are among the victims. Others guessed it was only a matter of time before the thieves fell off a ladder or touched electrical lines by mistake.

“Tweakers are literally cutting live wires in Catoosa County. Live wires. Let that sink in,” one person commented.

“All it’s going to take is one wrong cut and poof!” another said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2022 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Bold thieves resort to stealing wires off telephone poles in Georgia, cops say."