Three charged in copper theft
Three people have been charged with stealing copper wire from local businesses.
Pete Lopez, 23, of Socorro and Jack Roy Heinsohn, 32, and his wife Veronica Heinsohn, 28, of Lemitar, are accused of stealing copper from A-1 Quality Redi-Mix, Socorro Electric Cooperative and Midstate Electric within the past 10 days.
Socorro Police Detective Richard Lopez said Pete Lopez is the alleged ringleader.
“He was not only tied into it, it was his idea,” the detective said, adding that the Heinsohns have cooperated with the investigation.
According to the criminal complaint, Pete Lopez has denied involvement with the thefts. He was charged on Tuesday, April 19 with 13 counts that range from burglary, larceny, conspiracy, criminal damage to property and disposing of stolen property. He was arrested that same day.
The Heinsohns were arrested on Monday, April 18, at their home. Three minor children who were at the home were turned over to the Children, Youth and Families Department.
Jack Roy Heinsohn, who goes by his middle name, faces identical charges as Lopez. Veronica Lopez was charged with seven counts, including conspiracy, larceny, disposing of stolen property and criminal damage to property.
All three suspects are incarcerated — Pete Lopez and Roy Heinsohn at the Socorro County Detention Center and Veronica Heinsohn at the McKinley County facility. They are all scheduled to appear in magistrate court in Socorro for preliminary hearings on Tuesday, April 26.
Detective Lopez said while off duty one day last week, he was driving down Riverside Road and noticed a man he thought was Pete Lopez sitting under a tree stripping wire, and made a mental note of it. When Officer Victor Chavez told him Monday morning that a large amount of copper wire was reported stolen from A-l over the weekend, the detective knew where to look.
Richard Lopez said he and Capt. Angel Garcia went to the home on Riverside Road where they met with Pete Lopez’s mother, who allowed them to have a look around the property. The officers found five 55-gallon barrels where wire coating was still smoldering from being burned. While still there, Pete’s cousin, Arthur Jojola, showed up and admitted knowledge of the crimes. He directed the police officers to the Heinsohn’s home in Lemitar.
According to the complaint, the Heinsohns confessed to being involved in the thefts at the three businesses, as well as the alleged theft of a large radiator off a truck in the neighborhood of Clarke Field.
“They were going out every night looking for different targets,” Richard Lopez said.
Veronica Heinsohn’s alleged participation involved dropping the men off at various locations and coming back to pick them up, and purchasing a bolt cutter that was used to cut a lock at the A-1 plant east of I-25. A larger amount of copper was reported stolen from A-1′s property on U.S. 60.
Richard Lopez said thieves gained entry to the Socorro Electric Cooperative maintenance yard off Manzanares Street by cutting a lock. Midstate Electric’s copper was stolen from inside and outside a building near the Roadrunner Truck Stop in Lemitar, he said.
The complaint states that some of the stolen copper was taken to Salome’s Recycling in Socorro and sold, while some of it was taken to a home in Belen and sold for $700.
Asked how much copper was stolen, the detective said, “We can’t say the amount of copper, but we can say it was at least $1,000 worth from the co-op, at least $800 worth form Midstate, and it should exceed $70,000 from A-1 because it was that much the last time they got hit and it’s more this time.”
A-1 Quality Redi-Mix reported a copper theft about a year ago in which three other people were charged.
Socorro Electric has been the victim of multiple copper thefts, both at the maintenance yard and off power poles, in the last two years.
Two city employees were recently fired for allegedly stealing copper from a property yard at New Mexico Tech in February.
According to the website metalprices.com, the cost of copper has more than doubled in the past two years. It was priced at $4.28 per pound on the COMEX and London Metal Exchange on Thursday of this week.
Contact T.S. Last