Thieves treating parish pump stations like their own private fuel stops stripped copper wiring and siphoned thousands of gallons of diesel from Jefferson Parish facilities late last year, knocking four critical drainage pumps offline and rattling West Bank neighborhoods such as Woodmere and Pelican Bay. The outages forced crews into a race against the next hard rain to restore pumping capacity before streets started filling up. Parish officials say the thefts left equipment heavily damaged and some pumps out of commission for at least a week in December, with arrests announced this month after an investigation that tracked stolen copper and fuel to multiple sites across the parish.
How investigators say the thefts unfolded
According to NOLA.com, parish investigators believe the crew first targeted Estelle Pump Station No. 1 in Harvey over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2025, then came back for more at additional stations. Authorities say roughly 4,400 gallons of diesel were taken from Estelle No. 1 and about 2,000 gallons from Estelle No. 2, a haul of around 6,400 gallons, and that multiple stations were left with tens of thousands of dollars in damage after thieves ripped out copper and conduit. One pump house on the Pailet Canal in Barataria was reportedly stripped of about 500 feet of copper wiring valued at roughly $40,000.
Copper thefts fit a wider parish pattern
The pump-house break-ins are part of a wider copper theft problem across Jefferson Parish that has knocked out streetlights and chewed up public infrastructure, with repair costs estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. In one report, the damage has been pegged as high as $1 million to $1.5 million, according to FOX8. Parish engineers say they are trying to blunt the wave of theft by swapping copper for aluminum wiring where they can, installing lockable junction boxes, and adding solar lighting in some locations. Local coverage of the broader problem and the parish response is available from FOX8 and WDSU.
Arrests and repairs
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office says it has now booked several people in connection with the pump-station thefts, on counts that include criminal damage to critical infrastructure, theft over $25,000, and unauthorized entry, according to NOLA.com. Arrest reports identified Charles Dove, Mark Clark, and Markell Mitchell among those taken into custody. Investigators also arrested Tom Khai Dinh, owner of Tom’s Marine and Salvage, on possession-of-stolen-property counts tied to a reported stolen 22-foot bay boat. Parish officials told reporters they had partial pumping capacity restored within about a week and that full operation was back in roughly three weeks, even as crews kept chasing leads and swapping out damaged components.
Neighbors and the parish response
For residents in Woodmere, Pelican Bay, and nearby areas, the outages landed like a gut punch to long-standing flooding worries and broader public safety concerns. Parish leaders have urged neighbors to call in anything suspicious around pump houses or darkened streetlights before the next round of storms rolls through. “This was theft. This was not budgeted or planned,” District 2 Councilman Deano Bonano told WDSU, which also reported that engineers are shifting some locations to aluminum wiring, adding anti-theft boxes, and installing solar fixtures. Officials warn that every new round of copper theft tightens already slim maintenance budgets and complicates flood-prevention work just as the region heads into wetter months.
