News 12 at 6 o'clock / June 11, 2011

With this heat, you sure don't want to get stuck without air conditioning. That's exactly what happened today to workers at a local school, and they have thieves to blame.

This is the third time in three weeks copper thieves have hit Cross Creek High School. People who work at the high school are not only upset with the cost to the school system, but they also have to work without AC.

Debbie Brown, Cross Creek High School secretary, said the building's temperature was at 86 when she came in for work.

"I called the maintenance department to find out why the air wasn't on, and at that point they didn't know that the copper had been stolen again," Brown said.

Brown has been working through the heat each time the air conditioners have been stripped.

"I have tried to sit in the hallway where it is cool, but today for some reason, the air is not on in the hallway," Brown. "I've tried to be in the hallway because I can't focus to answer the phones and help parents with no air."

The air conditioners were just fixed this past Friday after being stripped again Wednesday, and now it has happened again.

"I can't believe they have gotten by with doing it a third time and haven't been caught yet," Brown said.

It is a costly theft, an estimated $30,000, and that number doesn't include Sunday night's theft.

So what is making Cross Creek High School an easy target?

The copper connects from the building wall straight to the air conditioner, allowing thieves to go right down the row.

Lt. Richard Roundtree, Richmond County Board of Education Police, said copper thefts are high across the area.

"They are hitting churches, they are hitting homes, but anytime you go into one school, you have a lot air conditioners in one place and when you go to a home, it may only be two or three," he said.

Brown and police hope the thieves don't strike again.

"I hope it doesn't happen again, especially with the students, because when you have 30 students in a classroom, they can't concentrate with this," she said.

Board of Education Police say they believe all three copper thefts are connected, and they are close to catching the culprits. There is video surveillance documenting this crime. Roundtree said the school has been hit between midnight at 6 a.m. each time.