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Copper thieves hit Evanston church day care center
Updated: January 11, 2013 3:48PM
EVANSTON — Thieves stole copper downspouts from an Evanston church for the second time in three months, but this time they took them from the church’s day care center.
Sometime between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday, someone took between 30 feet and 40 feet of 3-inch copper downspouts from the northwest and south corners of the day care center at St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in the 1100 block of Washington Street in Evanston, police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said.
The thieves “basically cut out” five sections of the copper downspouts, Parrott said, taking about $2,000 worth of the copper piping.
The day care center is attached to the church building, from which downspouts worth about $1,000 were stolen in early October, he said.
Copper thefts have been a problem “on and off over the last year or so,” Parrott said, but generally it’s been older houses that have been targeted.
The thefts, which generally take place at night, according to Parrott, are believed to be the work of “scrappers,” who sell the copper for a fraction of what it costs to replace.
