Crime & Safety
Burglar Caught Sawing Copper in Bernards Home, Report Says
Neighbor alerted police to activity in South Maple Avenue home that was supposed to be unoccupied.
A Long Hill man was caught Friday sawing copper piping inside a Bernards Township home, according to an arrest affidavit on file with the Somerset County Court.
Stephen Caprari, 30, was charged with burglary after a neighbor called Bernards police to report suspicious activity in a house on South Maple Avenue that was supposed to be unoccupied, according to MyCentralJersey.com.
Police arrived at about 9:30 p.m. and found Caprari with a hacksaw, freshly-cut copper pipes and a large amount of copper wiring elsewhere in the home, the report said.
Following the theft of copper pipes and equipment from the closed Bernardsville pool late last winter, authorities in that town said the rising cost of copper has in general made the metal more of a target.
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Bernardsville police at that time estimated that roughly $25,000 to $30,000 worth of copper materials had been taken. No arrests had been made at that time.
Bernardsville Police Chief Kevin Valentine said Tuesday the borough police had identified some people "of interest" in that case, and were waiting for the results of forensic testing.
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