Vandals struck two businesses on North Oracle Road last weekend, stealing several feet of copper electrical wiring and costing one of the businesses more than $30,000 in lost products.
Oro Valley police received reports of vandalism and theft on Sunday from two businesses located less than a mile apart, said department spokeswoman Lt. Kara Riley.
The incidents occurred sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, and it’s unknown which happened first, she said.
At Rejuv Medical Southwest, 7790 N. Oracle Road, “panels of the wiring hub had been removed and 20-inch-thick copper wire had been cut and stolen,” Riley said.
Police estimated the damage at about $10,000.
A spokeswoman from Rejuv said the property management company repaired the damage and handled the cost of replacing the 4 feet of stolen wire.
Thieves also hit Dickey’s Barbeque Pit, 7850 N. Oracle Road, forcing the business to close for a day.
“I came in at about 4 a.m. on Sunday to open up and there was no power,” said owner Dave Wirth.
When he went to investigate the cause, he discovered that a 3- to 4-foot section of wiring had been removed from the back wall, above the emergency box for the fire department.
Wire had also been cut about 100 feet away, in the area where the power comes into the building, Wirth said.
“I had an electrician out at noon and he was here until 3 a.m. on Monday repairing the damage,” he said. “The landlord is picking up the cost for that.”
But the stolen wire wasn’t the costly part of the vandalism for Dickey’s.
Because of the loss of power, the business lost more than $30,000 worth of inventory in cold storage areas, and was closed Sunday and part of Monday.
Dickey’s reopened for dinner Monday night to a full restaurant, many of the customers coming out to show support after they learned about the theft, Wirth said.
“We had an awesome dinner rush like we haven’t seen in a while,” he said.
In addition to the close proximity of the businesses, Oro Valley police have another reason to believe the two incidents are connected.
“We look at how suspects are cutting the wires and it appears to be the same tools,” Riley said.
Copper theft isn’t new for Tucson, or for Oro Valley, she noted.
“A couple of years back, we had some issues with copper wiring theft from light poles in Oro Valley. We made several arrests and it died down. It looks like it’s popping back up.”
