How bad is Detroit's metal-theft epidemic? So bad that pipes go missing from restaurant bathrooms.
Shawn Ley flushes out the facts in a Wednesday evening report on WDIV (video below):
Urinal and toilet fixtures are being removed from inside restaurant restrooms. The crew at the McDonald's on Mack Avenue in east Detroit have not been allowed to talk about it, but wooden boxes now protect the new urinal fixtures after the old ones were stolen. . . .
In southwest Detroit, a Burger King has had to have its toilet fixtures replaced four times. All of the thefts have happened during business hours.
Targets of brazen thieves with saws and other tools also include rooftop air conditioners. "Local contractors who have seen just about everything in the city stolen for a quick scrap metal payout can't believe the new level of super-scrapping," Ley says in his three-minute report.
State lawmakers have tried to help with a law the governor signed in April, banning cash payments by scrap dealers for items worth more than $25. Checks must be mailed to a street address, not a postal box.
