News 12 at six o'clock -- March 7, 2010

AUGUSTA, Ga. --- The sight of cut wires and bent metal is one that's all too familiar for Rev. Marion Williams.

"They cut it up in small pieces and put the pieces in bags to sell," he says.

He's talking about the copper wiring that once operated the church's air conditioning systems, now cut apart and taken by thieves.

But the people of Friendship Baptist Church are no strangers to these crimes. Reverend Williams says vandals did the same thing less than a year ago, leaving a total of four units destroyed.

"They're stripping the copper off it, putting them in bags and selling it for about 30 or 40 dollars, but they're destroying a five or six thousand dollar air conditioning unit," Rev. Williams says.

"It gets expensive; we're talking about $20,000."

But Rev. Williams says the problem doesn't stop here.

"It's not just us, other churches have been having the same problems," he says. "They're targeting places they can easily get in and out of, and the church is one of those places."

Even schools aren't safe; in just the past month, Heritage Academy has been hit twice by copper thieves.

After the first incident, members of Friendship Baptist Church built wire casing around the church's replacement unit for protection. Rev. Williams says they will look into putting even more security measures in place for the next units.

But he fears as long as there's copper, the thieves will be back.

"People used to respect the church, but now they just come in the church and do things," he says.

Because prices for scrap copper are so high, nearly three dollars a pound, there are strict guidelines in place to try and catch thieves in the act of selling it.

People selling copper must show an ID and license tags and declare that they own the metal. They are also paid by check, not cash, so the transaction can be traced if necessary.