Metro Atlanta property owners are putting their air-conditioning units behind steel cages as thieves increasingly target outdoor systems for copper, other valuable metals, or simply haul away the entire unit in a matter of minutes.
WSB-TV reporter Ashlyn Webb said some homeowners have been left without air conditioning during the summer heat and forced to spend thousands of dollars on replacements, even though the scrap value of the copper inside one residential unit may amount to only a few dozen dollars.
One Atlanta homeowner, Kysii Ingram, saw just how quickly the theft can happen when his Ring camera captured two men pulling into the driveway of a property he was preparing to sell and taking the whole HVAC unit in broad daylight.
Thieves Took The Entire Unit In Minutes
Ingram said he was out to dinner with his wife when the surveillance footage showed two men backing a truck directly toward the outdoor air-conditioning system…