Las Vegas police identify suspect in copper wire theft at Opportunity Village

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - A local nonprofit that serves those with intellectual disabilities was hammered over the summer by copper wire thieves.

Executives at Las Vegas nonprofit Opportunity Village say copper wire thieves hit air conditioning units for wire at the organization’s Thrift Store in June, July and twice in August.

Now, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has named a suspect for one of the thefts in August. According to police, the suspect has been identified as Lawrence Butcher. Officers say Butcher was caught on scene by security personnel.

Opportunity Village staff tell FOX5 that security was on the roof installing motion sensor cameras in August, because of other copper wire thefts, when a person appeared on the roof and approached an air conditioning unit. The staff members says security sprayed the man with mace and held him until police arrived.

“His story was that he was there on a work order and he had a boss that dropped him off and he didn’t have a ladder that he accessed the building with. So that was suspicious to begin with. And he looks like he used some of the structure where they put utility boxes on the outside of structures, and he used that to access the roof,” said LVMPD Captain Joshua Martinez.

Officials says Butcher has sold metal 18 times since January. However, they say he is not affiliated with any kind of business that would be scrapping metal that often.

Police say they will investigate whether Butcher was involved in the other copper wire thefts at the thrift store.

Copyright 2022 KVVU. All rights reserved.