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Charlotte, NC — You have less than two feet to squeeze through to steal $20 worth of metal. Is it worth it?
“I wouldn’t go under that house for 20 dollars,” said Mike Kissiah. “Obviously, somebody will, and they keep dong it.”
Kissiah says thieves have hit up his elderly father’s home three times in the past four months.
They’ve stolen copper from the air conditioning unit, a piece of a protective fence. However, they’ve never taken something so unusual until now.
“Taking this, they’re not too smart,” said Kissiah.
Police say the thieves stole the entire water pipe system. The pipes aren’t copper and aren’t worth much.
Underneath the home, the thieves hid from neighbors and passing drivers while they cut the plumbing and the copper furnace gas line.
“People who do this, I have no respect for them,” said Kissiah.
It’s the home he grew up in before heading off to the Marines just like his father, Robert Kissiah.
At 95-years-old, his dad couldn’t meet WCCB Charlotte on Monday, but he’s the one paying the price.
“It makes me really angry,” said his daughter-in-law, Ruth Kissiah.
She’s helped her elderly father-in-law renovate the home in order to sell it.
To redo the stolen plumbing: “Another $3,000,” said Ruth.
That coupled with AC repairs brings the total price of damages to $3,900.
With the price of copper at $2.40 per pound, scrap metal workers say thieves probably haven’t even made $100 off Robert Kissiah’s metal.
“Maybe they’re buying food for their family,” said Mike Kissiah. “I have no idea. I’d just like for it to stop.”
His father isn’t planning on installing surveillance cameras because he says thieves will take those too.
He can’t sell the house until his can fix what they’ve undone.
Police tell WCCB Charlotte this crime has gone down 15 percent this year with nearly 900 victims in the city.
With families traveling for the holidays, investigators say watch out for your neighbors because the crime can cost victims so much.
