Copper theft is one of those crimes that does not discriminate.  Thieves follow the supply.

In recent months, they've ripped ground wires off of utility poles in Uptown, stole sections of copper roof from buildings in New Orleans East and hit homeowners hard in recovering neighborhoods like Broadmoor.

Dorothy Ayers says it took less than two hours for thieves to strip all of the copper pipes from under her home on South Miro Street.

“The persons that were doing these things, I just felt like they didn't have a heart, a conscience, didn't care,” Ayers said.

Builder Fernando Arriola says thieves have stolen every inch of copper from six of his different job sites.

“It took time and money to replace the copper and cost the building owners plenty,” said Arriola.  “They take, two, three pounds of copper out of a condenser unit, and the cost to replace it is $2,500.”

This summer the price of copper skyrocketed to between three and four dollars per pound.  Business was booming for the thieves and some scrap dealers eager to buy the stolen metal. 

Last week, Eyewitness News went undercover at three local salvage yards, to find out how easy it is to sell copper.   

At the first stop, Ellis Recycling in Slidell, an Eyewitness News manager pulled up with a load of copper wires and pipes.  Workers weighed it, gave him a price and sent him up to the cashier.

“We're not supposed to buy it without some kind of ID,” the cashier told the WWL employee, who apologized for not having identification.

Then the cashier instructed him, “Go ahead and sign your name and print it underneath… just make sure next time you have it.”

The WWL manager later explained that the cashier “took the receipt from me, asked me if I had ID.  I told her I didn't.”

“She said I should have ID, but she went ahead and asked me to sign the receipt and gave me the money, anyway,” the WWL employee recounted.

At the second location, Poland Scrap Metal in New Orleans, the Eyewitness News employee pulled up to the location and unloaded his SUV.  Workers gladly took the copper, no questions asked.  Instead of asking for identification, workers asked if the producer wanted his buckets returned.

“They went ahead and wrote me up, weighed it and wrote me a check,” the WWL staffer explained.

“They didn't ask for anything.  I went up to the cashier where there's a couple of IDs pasted up on the glass and a sign that says make sure you have your ID.  The cashier didn't ask me anything,” he recalled later.

At the next stop, Uptown Recycling in Central City, a worker immediately wrote down the license plate number of the WWL employee’s SUV.

“I think these three are all I'm looking to get rid of,” the WWL worker said.

"You got your ID on you, please?” the scrap yard worker asked.

When the WWL employee said he did not have ID, the worker said “I’ve got to give you a ticket,” and when questioned further, said “This is a transaction report. It's mandatory for anybody.”

“I told him I just couldn't produce one (an ID),” the WWL employee said later.  “He told me if I could get one, I could come back or if somebody else had one, I could come back, but otherwise they couldn't buy the copper from me.”

Current laws require that purchasers of scrap metal check ID and get the names, addresses and other identifying information from customers who sell to them.  In addition dealers have to photocopy the seller's driver’s license, write down the license plate number and maintain transparent sales records for two years.

Penalties are relatively light for scrap dealers who don't follow the rules.  They face at least a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail, or both.  Copper thieves face heavier penalties.  They can be charged with theft and other crimes like breaking and entering and illegal trespassing.

Some businesses, like All Scrap Metals in Kenner, take additional precautions to weed out stolen metal.

“If you come in with a brand new roll of copper and you want to scrap that, we're going to ask you,” said All Scrap Metals’ Vincent Costanza.

Costanza said his workers ask if sellers are plumbers or electricians and check to see whether they have a license.

“If not, maybe they're a demolition contractor,” Costanza said, adding that his employees ask to see a copy of the contractor’s contract for the job, and ask them to describe what job is involved.

Copper is hard to trace and it is very difficult to tell one piece of scrap metal from another.  That's why police say it is hard to catch copper thieves without tight controls at the point of sale.

“If there was no market for it, if nobody was taking it, then they wouldn't be doing it.  It would quickly dry up,” says builder Fernando Arriola.

Victims like Dorothy Ayers of Broadmoor say as long as there's greed, there will be copper theft.

“Even the church we attend, it was three Sundays ago we had to put up with the heat because they took the copper coils from units at the church,” Ayers said.

“They have no regards for God's house, you know, it doesn't matter for us.”