Burglary, Copper Theft At Town Owned Industrial Building

January 30, 2013

A burglary and copper theft at a vacant town-owned industrial building in Century is under investigation.

Someone busted out a window at the former Van Nevel Helicopters building on Industrial Boulevard in Century. Several small items appeared to have been removed from the building, but the most damage done in the crime was outside the  40,000 square foot building.

The suspect forcibly removed sections of industrial size copper tubing leading from multiple air conditioning units into the building, town officials said. The units themselves were not opened or damaged.

Town employees believe the thefts occurred sometime between Friday and Tuesday morning when the broken window was discovered.

The Van Nevel Helicopters building has been empty for years after the business owner apparently fled the county amidst financial difficulties. The Town of Century foreclosed on the property in August 2009. The heating and cooling systems in the building were replaced with new, energy efficient units in 2011.

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.

Pictured top: An Escambia County Sheriff’s Office crime scene technician dusts a broken window for fingerprints at the former Van Nevel Helicopters building in Century. Pictured inset: The crime scene tech photographs damage to an air conditioning unit. Pictured below: The vacant town owned building was burglarized some time between Friday and Tuesday. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

4 Responses to “Burglary, Copper Theft At Town Owned Industrial Building”

  1. Simple man on February 1st, 2013 9:46 am

    I aree with you, but when all the thieves around our area gets caught and they simply let them go and do an investigation about the crimes and the crime never stops hello there’s your red flag take action.

  2. Bill on January 30th, 2013 6:35 pm

    They would have names,But unless there were some markings or something on the copper it would be hard to tell… I do construction around town and take all my metal to one yard.. I get copper pipe,wiring and plain ol scrap Metal and I usually take it down in Bulk,so it would be hard to pin-point someone like that.. sometimes they do get lucky and catch afew people,that have stolen from units though..

  3. clint on January 30th, 2013 10:18 am

    Nice looking investigator..:)

  4. Simple man on January 30th, 2013 9:25 am

    Wouldn’t the salvage yard have records of what the receive and names of the person? There are alot of thieves in this area and a few of them are already under investigation. Start with the ones you know that are in this area!