News

Copper stolen from construction site

By Ethan Forman
Staff writer
Published: September 4, 2008

DANVERS — Police are investigating the theft early yesterday morning of an undetermined amount of copper piping and other building materials from the job site of the $140 million medical center under construction on Endicott Street.

Police Sgt. Robert Bettencourt said a large quantity of copper was reported stolen by workers at 6:51 a.m. yesterday at the Massachusetts General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care. The theft probably happened between the hours of 3:15 and 4:15 a.m., Bettencourt said.

Police were able to get a description of a van that may have been involved in the theft along with pictures from a surveillance camera.

North Shore Medical Center spokeswoman Casey Chuy confirmed the theft of copper piping and other building materials, but she said she did not have any more detail of how much was taken.

"How much of it, we are not sure," she said.

The site was locked, there are surveillance cameras, the site is patrolled periodically, and it has enhanced lighting, Chuy said.

"Right now, we are working with police to get a full report as we review all the surveillance tapes," Chuy said.

The three-story building, being built next door to Osram Sylvania's headquarters, involves a 122,000-square-foot outpatient facility and an 80,000-square-foot medical office building. It's slated to open in the spring of 2009, Chuy said.

Bettencourt said thefts of copper building materials in town have not been as bad as in other communities.

On May 31, someone climbed through a window of a home being renovated after a fire and made off with all the copper baseboard pipes, according to the Danvers Police Department's newsletter, "The Defender." Police suspect the culprit was the same person who lifted scrap metal that same week from a Clarence Avenue yard.

Officer Peter Shabowich and Detective Jim Williamson are investigating the copper theft at the medical center.