When the foreclosure notice comes and the homeowners leave, the welcome mat usually goes with them.

But the sign that soon gets staked in the ground, screaming "Bank Owned," is increasingly sending a different kind of invitation than intended.

Metal thefts from vacant, foreclosed homes have spiked noticeably in the past six months, authorities say, and now are a near-daily occurrence throughout the Inland region, from Highland to the High Desert in San Bernardino County to the hard-hit suburbs southwest of Riverside.

Walls have been gutted and floorboards removed to get at copper piping, and heating and air conditioning units are regularly stripped of their wiring.

It often comes after someone notices the sign advertising that the home has an absentee bank owner.

"We've been trying to get them to stop throwing those up," said San Bernardino County sheriff's Deputy Laren Leichliter, who works with real estate agents as Highland's problem-oriented policing officer. "That's a dead giveaway."

In Highland, Leichliter visits at least two foreclosed homes that have fallen victim to metal thefts each week, including one on Tuesday where a transient was caught after cutting pieces of copper plumbing pipes and stuffing them into a backpack.

Fontana police receive a new report at least every three days. Hesperia averages 20 to 30 per month. Detectives in the Riverside County sheriff's Perris station, which also covers Menifee, Sun City, Mead Valley and Romoland, say there have been 70 thefts in the last month.

And a Realtor in Riverside says a quarter of her bank-owned properties, at any given time, have been hit.

"Overall, I would say it's very prevalent," said Mary Churchill, of Riverside, president of the Inland Valley Association of Realtors. "And I don't see what Realtors can do to help the situation because we're kind of caught in it as well."

Heightened Problem

The simultaneous dip in the housing market and rise in metal prices earlier this year only heightened the problem, officials said. Either one alone likely would have caused more metal thefts from foreclosed homes.

Together, they're proving to be tough to keep up with.

"People are losing their jobs and doing what they have to do to survive," said Riverside County sheriff's Detective Guy Gilbert. "I've been doing this 25 years and there was a metal theft problem 25 years ago ... now the economy is going down and recycling prices are going up."

Copper, which is used in plumbing systems and air conditioning units, can fetch almost $3 per pound, a steep increase from five years ago, according to the most recent published prices. But the cash a thief can make from several hundred pounds of metal from a foreclosed home is nowhere near a match for the costs of the repairs left to the banks and real estate agents.

"It's just sad, because once they find that the homes are vacant, they'll do a lot of damage for a very small amount of metal," said Joyce Aragon, an Ontario-based real estate agent. "I just don't get it."

Unless a suspect is caught at the scene, making an arrest is almost impossible. Much of the material removed from vacant homes can't be traced, and scrap yard operators aren't required to stop a sale unless they're certain something has been stolen.

"By the time we find out about it, all the leads are gone," said Fontana police Detective Tony Clay, who investigates metal thefts.

Stopping the Thieves

From the prevention end, both police and real estate professionals say their options are limited. Churchill noted that the only way to stop the thefts would be to obtain stronger restrictions on what scrap yards can buy.

Several state legislators have proposed such measures -- Gov. Schwarzenegger recently signed some of the bills into law -- and San Bernardino County supervisors initiated a study of the issue and have considered creating a registry for foreclosed properties.

In Hesperia, sheriff's Deputy Daniel Rodriguez, who investigates metal thefts, leads a compliance program with scrap yards to raise awareness.

"With realty companies, we give them the information we're getting on what criminals are looking for," he said. "The tags on the windows, the 'For Sale' signs, they need to monitor those houses closer than just putting the signs up and coming by once a month to check."

In Highland, Leichliter said he has urged real estate agents to board up foreclosed homes and take "bank owned" references off signs.

"They hate to board up houses because they're trying to sell them, but they also don't want to go in and redo the entire plumbing system," Leichliter said. "It's a catch 22."

Some neighborhood associations have begun watering the lawns on vacant properties, removing another signal that the house is vacant.

"Hopefully, we get a call from a neighbor when something's happening on one of the properties," Churchill said. "But usually it's way after the fact."

To view the online article, please click here.

About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with over 500 employees. Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.