Fountain Valley Police Arrest Copper Wire Theft Suspect

A man who Fountain Valley Police say they caught in the act of stealing copper wiring from several buildings has been arrested.

Brian Colin, 27, from Riverside, was taken into custody on Oct. 29 by the Fountain Valley Police Department Detective Bureau and Crime Suppression Unit.

Colin first came under suspicion on Oct. 12. Investigators said he climbed onto the rooftop of a business in the 17000 block of Magnolia in Fountain Valley and removed copper from air conditioning units.

A witness who spotted him used a cell phone to photograph Colin’s license plate number as he fled the scene, officials said. Detectives conducted surveillance over the next two weeks and watched Colin break into an abandoned school in Riverside and attempt to steal copper from the roof of a business in Huntington Beach, according to investigators.

Colin was booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of burglary, vandalism, and theft charges.