ShawneeDispatch.com

Several reports of thieves stealing valuable metals from public areas have occurred in the last week, according to Shawnee police.

On Tuesday, the city discovered several thousand dollars of copper wire had been stolen from public streetlights. And on Wednesday, two businesses in downtown Shawnee reported that someone had stolen valuable car parts out of vehicles parked outside of their businesses.

Capt. Ron Copeland said the copper wire theft was discovered when a resident noticed the wiring boxes on several light poles has been damaged and called the city. The city checked and found three other areas where wiring had been stolen from multiple light poles.

Wiring was stolen from five light poles in the 21200 block of 47th Street; eight poles in the 21200 block of Clear Creek Parkway; five poles in the 5300 block of Old K-7 Highway; and five poles in the 5800 block of Woodsonia.

Copeland said it was unclear when the thefts had occurred. All of the thefts were in or near construction activity, he said, so people might not have noticed someone dressed as a construction worker or driving a construction-type truck or van. Construction also might have explained why residents weren't concerned that the lights had not been coming on at night.

Mark Sherfy, city traffic engineer, estimated that $17,000 worth of wire had been stolen, and it would cost about $30,000 to have the poles rewired.

Then on Wednesday, two downtown businesses reported that catalytic converters, a component of a vehicle exhaust system that contains platinum and other precious metals, had been stolen from a total of three vans.

Russell Florist, 6129 Nieman Road, reported that catalytic converters were stolen from two Pontiac vans in its parking lot sometime between 6 p.m. July 25 and 2 p.m. on Wednesday. OK Garage then reported a catalytic converter had been removed from a Chevrolet van parked outside the business sometime between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Copeland said a bent metal saw was found under this van.

Anyone with information on any of these cases can contact the Shawnee Police Department at (913) 631-2155.