Burbank’s missing heritage surfaced in a pile of illicit gains last week when Los Angeles police retrieved a hefty bronze plaque during a sweep of recycling centers in the San Fernando Valley, busting a suspect for fencing hot metal. The purloined artifact, along with thousands of pounds of street lighting wire yanked from the city's grasp, was highlighted in a press release from the LAPD, shedding light on a rampant undercurrent of metal theft that bleeds urban infrastructure and taxpayers alike.
The LAPD's Commercial Crime Division’s Metal Theft Unit, in an operation aligned with Council President Paul Krekorian's office, cornered a cache of 580 pounds of wire pinched from the L.A. Bureau of Street Lighting and the Department of Transportation with an estimated value upwards of $12,000, KTLA reports.
Layers deeper into this den of thievery, officials unearthed an additional 3,366 pounds of copper and aluminum wire valued at about $24,000, reported stolen from CalTrans as per KTLA.
In the trench of this crackdown, Bedros “Peter” Zhamkochian, proprietor of Tuxford Recycling, found himself incarcerated for the receiving of dubious property, as per LAPD Online. Councilmember Traci Park told Crosstown that repair costs have soared to $20 million—a fiscal hemorrhage that stems from the chronic blackout reports which have escalated emphatically over the past year.
Detectives continue to chase the tendrils of this sprawling issue, inviting tips on the metal misappropriations with the assurance that anonymity is an option through L.A. Crime Stoppers or the “P-3 Tips” mobile app.
