Security cameras along Kingsbury Street and Lurline Avenue in Chatsworth captured two suspects stripping copper wire straight out of streetlight poles, leaving an entire stretch of neighborhood streets dark. One suspect appeared to act as a lookout while the other yanked wires free, and the damage didn't stop at a blackout: the severed lines were left exposed and still carrying live current.
Electrician Finds Severed Wires Still Live
Richard Espinoza, a Chatsworth resident and electrician, said he tested the sheared wires himself with a voltage tester after the theft. According to FOX 11 Los Angeles, Espinoza found the exposed wires were energized at 120 volts, telling the station, “See that, it’s 120 voltage power.” Close-up images obtained by the station show, in the outlet's words, “a fistful of wires pulled from street light poles along Kingsbury Street and Lurline Avenue.”
Espinoza reported the hazard to the city, and he and his neighbors also reached out to FOX 11 about what happens next. The station's report says Espinoza was told repairs could take nine months to a year. The city's Bureau of Street Lighting, which was not quoted addressing the Chatsworth poles specifically, states on its own site that on average, streetlight repairs can take more than one year to complete.
Residents Hand Over Footage to Devonshire Detectives
Clear images and video of the two suspects have been turned over to detectives at LAPD's Devonshire Division, per the FOX 11 account. Detectives there said copper wire theft has become big business for crooks and that they are part of a regional task force addressing the problem. LAPD's Operations-Valley Bureau said in a statement that it is actively reviewing reports of suspected wire and metal theft in Chatsworth and surrounding areas while coordinating with partner agencies.
LAPD is also encouraging anyone with information on suspected wire theft or related criminal activity to contact Los Angeles Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. FOX 11 said it reached out to the Department of Water and Power and the Bureau of Street Services about the repair delays but had not received a response by the time of publication.
A Citywide Pattern Behind One Dark Block
The Chatsworth outage fits into a much larger trend. Reports of copper wire theft across Los Angeles roughly doubled, rising from about 7,200 in fiscal year 2022-23 to nearly 16,000 in fiscal year 2024-25, according to data cited by LAist. That same reporting noted monthly calls to the city about the thefts fell from 1,500 in October 2024 to about 200 by May 2025, even as LAPD disbanded its Heavy Metal Task Force in July 2025 amid tighter department and city budgets.
The Bureau of Street Lighting has said outages now affect 15% of its entire system, according to CBS News. The bureau told the station that nearly half of its service requests stem from wire theft, with fewer than 200 field staff covering roughly a quarter-million streetlights citywide, leading to the nine-to-12-month repair window it cited.
Other Chatsworth Incidents and a Fatal 2019 Warning
This is not the first wire-theft case in the neighborhood. On Jan. 27, 2026, a separate Chatsworth incident ended with two suspects taken into custody after one tried to evade police by hiding in a manhole, according to KTLA. Elsewhere in the city, thieves stripped seven miles of copper wire from the Sixth Street Bridge; the stolen copper itself was valued at just $11,000, while rewiring the bridge for lighting was estimated to cost more than $2.5 million and remained unfinished, per CBS News.
The danger from exposed, energized wiring is not hypothetical. In a 2019 Koreatown case, a man died after tampering with an energized streetlight circuit; authorities said at the time he may have been trying to remove copper wire and other items, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Bureau of Street Lighting warns residents never to touch exposed wires, urging them instead to use caution and report any sighting through MyLA311, while LADWP says it handles after-hours problems with streetlight posts, conduits, and fixtures on the bureau's behalf.
