PITTSBURGH — Four people are facing charges after police said they tried to steal thousands of dollars’ worth of copper piping from the old Pittsburgh VA hospital in Lincoln-Lemington.
Pittsburgh police said on Tuesday, officers were on active patrol at the former site on Highland Drive when they saw the gate wide open and a duffle bag containing cut copper pipe.
When officers searched one of the buildings, they found four men trespassing on the private property. All of them were taken into custody.
During a second search, they found a fifth man with a bag of tools.
Police recovered more than 2,000 pounds of copper, and multiple pieces of evidence, including tools used to cut, package and transport copper pipe.
The value of the copper is estimated to be approximately $7,035, and does not include the cost to renovate and replace the pipes.
Robert Wayne Felton Jr., Brando Balzer, Matthew Wiggins and Matthew Cain are all facing multiple charges, including burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, institutional vandalism, theft of secondary metal, prohibited acts and possessing Instruments of Crime.
Darnell Posey will be charged via summons.
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