Copper stolen from Raleigh Springs Mall, again | Crime

(WMC-TV) – For at least the second time in three months, police say the Raleigh Springs Mall was hit by a copper thief.

Security guards spotted a man Monday removing copper from a section of that mall that previously was home to a Macy’s. Police eventually caught the man, identified as Eric Jackson, as he tried to escape across Yale. Inside one of his pockets, police say they found a section of copper pipe.

Investigators say the piece of pipe matched other pieces of pipe that had been removed from the mall and were strewn on the ground.

Police say they also found a backpack that contained a hacksaw, hammers and a flashlight.

But Jackson isn’t the first person charged with stealing copper from the Raleigh Springs Mall.

Surveillance cameras caught two men stealing copper from the mall in April. In fact, the men had been stripping copper from the mall for months before they were caught, according to Juanita Jones, the mall’s director.

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