A man who was found inside a manhole attempting to steal copper wire in an unincorporated neighborhood in West Los Angeles over the weekend was criminally charged on Tuesday, according to authorities.
A resident reportedly spied a man descending into a manhole on Saturday afternoon and knew something unusual was up. The suspect lost his cover when arriving deputies found him in the hole and took him into custody, NBC4 reported.
Elliaz Natividad, 25, was arrested in the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood, an unincorporated area patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Natividad has been charged with one count of an attempt to commit grand theft of copper materials exceeding $950 and one count of possession of burglary tools, according to court records.
Arrest records show Natividad was cited and released that same day, on Oct. 11, a day after copper wire thieves were suspected of causing internet outages for Verizon customers across L.A.
Authorities did not say whether the suspect had caused any damage.
Copper wire thefts have wrought havoc in the city of Los Angeles, darkening the iconic 6th Street Bridge and neighborhoods and cutting off phone access to emergency services for residents, as well as causing internet outages.
In May, copper wire thieves were suspected of cutting phone line service to seniors in South Los Angeles. The following month, copper thieves caused widespread internet service outages that affected swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Last year, blocks of Pico-Union, one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city, experienced power outages amid copper wire thefts.
Despite arrests, the problem has continued to worsen, so much so that city, state and law enforcement officials called on Gov. Gavin Newsom last week during a news conference to sign Assembly Bill 476, which strengthens penalties against illegal junk-and-metal dealers who purchase stolen copper wire. Newsom signed the bill into law Monday.
“Copper theft is not a victimless crime. It’s costing cities millions, endangering residents, and overwhelming local resources,” said Assemblyman Mark González (D-Los Angeles) in a written statement. González wrote the bill, and his district includes parts of Los Angeles. “AB 476 gives law enforcement and cities additional tools to track illegal transactions, stop thieves, and hold bad actors accountable.”
González said more than 38,000 feet, or seven miles, of copper wire were stripped from the iconic 6th Street Bridge since it reopened in 2022, causing $2.5 million in taxpayer-funded repairs.
He said, citywide, the Bureau of Street Lighting reported nearly 46,000 service requests for outages in 2024, with almost 40% tied to wire theft. He said some neighborhoods waited months for lights and services to be restored.
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