Thief Breaks in Through Window, Makes Off with Copper Piping

A man realized his property had been burglarized on Sunday after he flushed the toilet and no water circulated in the bowl.

He called when his plumber discovered that someone stole the copper piping from the plumbing system in the building on the 17100 block of S. 71st St., according to a police report.

The owner returned to the site around 10:45 a.m. Sunday to see if anything else was missing.

"(He) discovered that all of the metal flushing mechanisms that were attached to each of the toilets in all six bathrooms on the property had been removed," the report said. "He then discovered that a portion of a ground-level window on the southeast side of the building had been shattered."

Copper piping had been removed from both the upper and lower levels of the building, police said. The owner said he believed the thief, or thieves, snipped the top and bottom sections of the pipes to steal them.

An estimated value of the material wasn't provided in the report. The man said the theft occurred between 11:10 a.m. Sept. 12 and 1 p.m. Sept. 18.

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