They stole the roof.
Thieves climbed on top of a vacant office building and stole the copper roofs off of each of the eight dormers. Then they stole about 200 feet of copper trim, 50 feet of copper gutter and eleven copper downspouts.
The stolen metal is worth about $19,100, according to the police report.
This isn't the first time thieves had stolen copper from the building.
They stole air conditioning components a couple years ago, said the building's owner Nancy Seagle.
Copper theft fluctuates with the price of copper, said Capt. Thurman Whisnant of the Hickory Police Department.
Copper prices have risen steadily for the past year. It sells for $3.59 a pound. It sold for $2 per pound at this time last year.
In April 2008 copper sold for a record high of $4.08 per pound.
"Copper theft was a tremendous problem statewide and nationally a couple years ago," Whisnant said.
Seagle spotted the damage on her building's roof Wednesday and called the police. She said she thinks the thieves stole the metal Tuesday night.
When the police arrived, they found a pallet leaned up against the fence Seagle had installed around her air conditioning unit. The fence had been damaged but the unit was intact.
The preliminary investigation suggests that the thieves used the pallet to climb the fence and access the roof, according to the police report.
Seagle said she had been getting the building ready for new tenants.
"It's a federal-style building built in 1980," she said. "It was in perfect condition before they destroyed it."
The office is next door to Cooperative Christian Ministries at 133 1st Avenue, SE
She said that, in their desperation for copper, the thieves damaged the roof she'd had installed on the roof four years earlier.
Seagle was upset by the theft and wants people in the community to know that copper thefts are on the rise so they can protect themselves and not become victims.
It's not clear if the damage will be covered by Seagle's insurance.
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