A St. Paul man is a suspect in a large copper theft from a vacant factory in the Lowertown area of St. Paul.
Police spokesman Andy Skoogman said the 53-year-old suspect was arrested Tuesday at a copper recycler with 1,000 pounds of the metal.
Skoogman said the man allegedly stole the high-grade copper in two burglaries of the vacant former Gillette manufacturing facility. The facility is going to be reused as a light rail maintenance facility.
"Copper right now is being sold at about $3.15 to $3.25 a pound, so he was in possession of more than $3,000 yesterday when he was arrested," Skoogman said.
Skoogman said St. Paul police investigators are attempting to determine if the suspect is connected to any other similar cases of copper theft. He said police are not looking for additional suspects.