Chemicals and brass valves might not be the first items that pop into one's mind as appealing to thieves, but they are stolen by criminals seeking to sell the materials for quick money, according to those familiar with local rural crime.

Metal theft is on the rise on the Central Coast as it is across California, and the Central Coast is also affected by other crimes in rural areas, said Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Deputy John McCarthy, a member of the department's Rural Crime Unit for about 11 years.

Early this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a package of bills intended to combat metal theft in response to the rise in metal thefts across the state.

McCarthy said rural crimes committed in the county include the theft of crop chemicals, animal cruelty such as cock fighting, trespassing and illegal hunting and poaching.

McCarthy said that most of the rural crime in the county is in the North County due to the region being more agricultural.

In the Santa Maria area, there are a lot of the property crimes, including high-value theft, he said, while the Lompoc and Santa Ynez valleys see more poaching.

McCarthy attributed the difference to more farming in the Santa Maria area, while the Lompoc and Santa Ynez areas are more rugged and hilly.

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The deputy said he thinks rural crime is less known than other types of crime.

Residential burglaries make the news, and so does a convenience store being held up, McCarthy said.

“A lot of the farmers and ranchers don't want to take the time to report it,” he said of rural crime. “So there's a lot that goes unreported.”

Rural crimes are still getting reported, however.

In September, the sheriff's department arrested at least four people on suspicion of metal theft, McCarthy said, and there were three cases in September of theft of railroad wire.

Thieves are stealing aluminum off aluminum pipes, taking irrigation pipes and ripping off anything else with metal, such as copper, in it, he said.

“All it is is just a money thing,” McCarthy said.

Most crooks steal metal for drug money, he said. Metal thieves usually take metal to recycling centers, where they can get money for their loot.

The prices of metal, especially copper and aluminum, have been increasing, McCarthy said, “and the crooks know it.”

Thieves know what farms are getting ready to plant, and will steal crop chemicals from the farms when they're planting, McCarthy said.

“That's a very high amount of property loss,” he added.

The culprits will steal the chemicals out of the trunk of a car, McCarthy said.

There is a market for the crop chemicals among the smaller farms and there is also a black market for them, he said.

In September, $23,000 in chemicals were stolen and almost $22,000 of those chemicals were recovered, “and that's a good month,” McCarthy said.

Usually when $50,000 in chemicals are stolen, they will not be recovered, he said.

In the North County, there are varying reports from farms on the amount of crime experienced on the properties.

Chip Gee, equipment manager for DB Specialty Farms in Santa Maria, which grows strawberries, said brass valves are popular targets for thieves, as is “anything copper” that can be taken to a recycling center.

Gee said the thieves are just trying to get a $20 bill to get a drug fix.

“The biggest thing that's killing me now is tweakers,” he said, in reference to methamphetamine addicts.

Chemical thieves “know that there's $500 sitting in that jar right now,” Gee said.

About 10 years ago, DB Specialty Farms lost $30,000 or $40,000 in chemicals, he said.

The company watches their chemicals very closely.

“It's never not under lock and key,” Gee said.

Unless the crimes are very petty, Gee said he reports them to the sheriff's department. He avoids reporting the crimes to the insurance company, however, so the company's insurance rates won't increase.

Larry Acin, owner of Acin Ranch in Lompoc, which grows pumpkins and squash, said the ranch has only experienced “a little” in the way of crime.

“The biggest problem we have is people steal the pumpkins,” he said.

Someone stole a sprinkler pipe last year, Acin said.

He said that when pumpkins are stolen, he will usually call the Sheriff's Department and ask them to watch the property.

Fir Gregory, owner of the flower department at Summerset Farm in the Santa Ynez Valley, which grows organic vegetables and flowers, said that in the farm's four years of business, they've never had any type of theft.

“So far, no one was ever touched our place,” he said.

Gregory said that like all the ranches in the Valley, Summerset Farm has a three-post fence, but is not surrounded by barbed wire.

McCarthy encouraged victims of rural crime to report it. Even if they don't want to make a formal report, they should let law enforcement know what's happening, he said, because the information could be the missing piece that will link a series of connected crimes.

“If there's a crime spree going on in one area, and we don't know about it, there's nothing we can do,” McCarthy said.

Rural crime can either be reported by calling 9-1-1 or to McCarthy directly at 934-6512.

Samantha Yale can be reache at 739-2159 or syale@santamariatimes.com.

October 20, 2008