Copper wire thieves leaving Silver Lake neighborhood in the dark

SILVER LAKE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Residents in Silver Lake say copper thieves have been vandalizing street lights and leaving them in the dark - and fixing the problem doesn't seem to help for very long.

For several blocks around Micheltorena Street, the street lights are out.

"We've been having a lot of difficulty with a lot of the neighbors just walking up and down the street," said Steven Jennett, who reached out to Eyewitness News.

He said copper thieves are going through the area and ripping out the wires.

There have been other incidents of copper wire theft in Los Angeles. AT&T says thieves stealing copper wires have left many neighborhoods without landline phone service.

Jennett provided images of the problem areas that he and other neighbors found. Photos show electrical boxes broken into with wires exposed.

"A lot of these boxes actually say 'high voltage' on them," said Jennett, noting the danger.

On the Micheltorena Stairs that lead down to Sunset Boulevard, Eyewitness News found two street lights had been vandalized.

Jennett said he reached out to the city several times sending messages on the city's 311 app to report the issue. He received emails saying there is a backlog, but it will take months.

"We were told now that due to the budget constraints, we're going to have to wait at least five to six months to get some of these repairs done," Jennett said.

Eyewitness News reached out to the city, which said it repaired the lights on Micheltorena in January.

"Unfortunately, the lights were vandalized again approximately 48 days later, with large areas of Silverlake impacted by wire theft," the L.A. Bureau of Street Lighting said in a statement.

It's become such a serious problem that the Los Angeles Police Department set up a Heavy Metal Task Force. Last year, 82 people were arrested and 2,000 pounds of stolen copper wire was seized.

Residents said even if the issue gets fixed, it doesn't stay fixed for long and within a short time the same problem comes up.

"If they do repair them, the wires are gone in the next two or three weeks," Jennett said. "So they really need to either sort of try to convert these over to solar or seal those boxes."

The Bureau of Street Lighting said the city is "actively working to address these issues by investing in more durable infrastructure."

The city said it's assessing the damage and a timeline for repairs.