SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office has arrested four people in connection with an unusual theft of copper from Rio Tinto Kennecott's mining operations.
The scale and value of the copper is what has stunned deputies.
"The total value of the recovered items we estimate at $147,000," said Brittany Karzen, a spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. "This was a very large, costly theft."
Earlier this month, deputies were contacted by Rio Tinto Kennecott, reporting the theft of an 8,600-pound copper mold from the mine, Karzen said. The investigation led to a pair of arrests earlier this week.
On Thursday, FOX 13 News spotted deputies and agents with the Utah Attorney General's Office searching Ortiz Metal Processing in Salt Lake City. Deputies confirmed they arrested a third person, as well as the owner of the scrap yard on suspicion of purchasing stolen property.
"When we served the search warrant, we found some additional items that appeared to be out of place. Through further investigation it was identified as Kennecott property," Karzen said Friday.
It led to the recovery of the 8,600-pound mold and a "button" that weighs 6,000 pounds and copper plates that all belonged to Rio Tinto Kennecott.
"These molds are made of copper, they're like 99.7% pure copper," Karzen said. "Due to how large they are, we’re not sure how they planned to disassemble and sell them on, but they must have had some sort of plan whether it was to cut them up and melt them down."
When FOX 13 News called the scrap yard on Friday for comment on the arrests, a person who answered the phone said to call back later. On repeat phone calls, no one picked up again.
There are a lot of questions about how such massive items could leave the mine and whether anyone else was involved. The Utah Attorney General's Office is assisting in the investigation. Rio Tinto Kennecott confirmed in a statement released through the sheriff's office that it was also conducting an internal investigation.
“We are grateful to the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office for their diligent work in recovering our property,” said Matt Tobey, General Manager, Metals, Rio Tinto Kennecott. “We are committed to the health, safety and security of our employees and contractors. A multi-disciplinary team is investigating the incident and will take action improvement measures based on the outcome of the investigation."
Formal charges are pending against the four people arrested this week.
