California AG vows crackdown on copper wire thefts

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined law enforcement and business leaders in Los Angeles Thursday to address the increase in copper wire theft.

In L.A. County, there is more copper theft than the entire state of Texas.

"Copper theft has plunged street blocks into darkness in the Pico-Union and Westlake neighborhoods here in Los Angeles," Bonta said at a news conference. "Cable damage in South L.A. has taken down residents' landline phones. We've had vandalism that cost streetlights to go out in Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights and El Sereno."

AT&T announced at the event that it is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of copper cable theft, or the sale or purchase of stolen copper cable across the state.

"DOJ stands ready to support local law enforcement and work together to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes," Bonta said in a statement.

ABC7 has investigated this issue for months. In South L.A., landline telephone disruption has left many people there without their communication lifeline.

AT&T says the problem is these copper lines are old technology. They say replacing it is difficult since some of the equipment isn't even made anymore.

But it's a huge problem for folks without phone service.

"I am frustrated about this issue. We are addressing it. We are working as hard as we can to get your service back up," said Susan Santana, the president of AT&T California. "Please be patient with us, but we will continue working our butts off because that's what we're doing 24/7on a lot of cases."

ABC7 asked Santana about people who feel more comfortable depending on landline service.

"What's interesting is 98 - 99% of the population has wireless, right? So in times of evacuation notices, in times of disasters, they're grabbing their wireless phone, their cellphone to connect with family, not the landline telephone that typically stays behind," Santana said. "Regardless of what technology they choose, we want to ensure that their landline service, that their copper lines are back up and running."