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https://mynorthwest.com/kiro-opinion/kent-copper-wire-theft/4264693

Harger: A Kent business lost $90,000 to copper wire theft. The accused
got $113.40 at a recycler. He didnrCOt show up for court
Aug 10, 2026, 2:00 PM | Updated: 4:31 pm

kent copper wire theft...
Copper rods used to machine parts are stacked on a shelf. (Photo: Scott
Olson, Getty Images)

16
BY CHARLIE HARGER
Host, Seattle's Morning News
UPDATE: An earlier version of this commentary noted the suspect was
scheduled for arraignment this morning. He didnrCOt show up. Gary Lewis Witherbee failed to appear at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in
Kent. King County prosecutors moved for a bench warrant, which is now
active. For context, itrCOs his 40th. WerCOve updated the piece to include
his name and the new details.

$113.40.

ThatrCOs what the copper was worth at the recycler. The business it came
from has lost more than $90,000. Merry Christmas.

Witherbee was scheduled for arraignment this morning on charges of first-degree theft and first-degree malicious mischief. He turns 70 next month. He couldnrCOt be bothered to show.

A 68-year-old with a powered hacksaw at a Kent warehouse, 6 a.m. on
Christmas Day
According to the charging documents, security cameras recorded two
people arriving at an Eagle Beverage warehouse in Kent around 6 a.m. on December 25, 2024. They can be heard discussing rCLhaving a better planrCY
for removing the heavy-gauge copper cables connecting a commercial
generator to the building. They had bolt cutters. They had a powered
hacksaw. They left on foot, returned in daylight in a maroon 1998 Ford
F-150, pulled the cables, loaded them up, and drove off.

Eagle Beverage makes plastic cutlery for restaurants, including regional McDonaldrCOs locations. They need the generator because Puget Sound Energy (PSE) canrCOt supply enough power for their automated equipment. No
cables, no generator. No generator, no business.

rCLEvery day that they arenrCOt able to operate, they estimate that it costs them about $12,000 in lost opportunities,rCY Casey McNerthney, a
spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting AttorneyrCOs Office, told
KIRO Newsradio.

Six operating days. Dark. Over Christmas.

Kent police found the receipt in WitherbeerCOs truck. With his own license plate written on it
Kent Police Detective Justin Campbell ran a Flock camera query and
matched the F-150 from the security footage the same day the theft was reported. Flock cameras are the license plate readers mounted at
intersections around Kent and other cities, and they work. Police traced
the plate to Witherbee, located the truck near a Comfort Inn in Kent
that afternoon, and impounded it.

Then they waited. It took until March 2025, more than two months, for a
judge to approve the search warrant on the impounded truck. The evidence
was sitting in a sealed vehicle in a police impound lot the entire time.


When they finally got in, the truck told the whole story.

In the truck bed: police said they found a bucket with coiled rubber
tubing that turned out to be the casing from the stolen cables. Cut
cable connectors with colored tape matching the originals. On the
driverrCOs floorboard: a receipt from Valley Recycling in Pacific dated December 26, the day after the theft. Thirty-six pieces of #2 copper at
$3.15 each.

$113.40.

On the receipt, in handwriting, the license plate number of the truck
police had already matched to Witherbee. Valley Recycling confirmed the
sale. They also identified his passenger.

$113.40 for copper that cost a business more than $90,000 to recover from.

Eagle Beverage had already been hit once. TheyrCOd spent $90,000
recovering. Then it happened again
The charging documents note a previous copper theft at the same
warehouse had already shut down production and cost Eagle Beverage about $90,000 in total losses. ThatrCOs why they installed the motion-activated camera under the generator. That camera caught the Christmas morning theft.


McNerthney laid out the second round of damage: rCLabout $12,000 in damage
and about $7,000 in new security costs,rCY plus six days offline at
$12,000 a day.

Two copper thefts. One location. Over $180,000 in total losses.

rCLYou donrCOt want to see businesses move out or even suffer through this because thererCOs no requirement that they stay,rCY McNerthney said.

There isnrCOt. Eagle Beverage can leave Kent any time it wants. A lot of businesses already have.

Gary Witherbee has 39 bench warrants, felony convictions going back two decades, and just earned number 40
The charging documents paint a picture of a defendant well known to the courts. WitherbeerCOs record in the staterCOs Judicial Access Browser System showed 39 bench warrants before this morning. Now itrCOs 40. He has felony convictions for first-degree identity theft (two counts from 2017), second-degree stolen property (2011), second-degree burglary (2008), and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle (2003 and 2001). At least
12 more gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor convictions dating back to
2001, mostly property and traffic offenses.


Forty bench warrants. One person. And this morning he couldnrCOt be
bothered to show up.

Kent police referred the case in July 2025. The King County Prosecuting AttorneyrCOs Office filed charges on July 13, 2026. There were no new case referrals for Witherbee between the alleged theft and the filing. As
always, herCOs presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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Treat metal recyclers like pawn shops. ThatrCOs the fix
McNerthney told KIRO Newsradio the fix is straightforward: require metal recyclers to use the same online database pawn shops already use.

rCLItrCOs really a simple fix,rCY he said. rCLAn online database that police across King County can search, where they look and see what was bought,
who bought it, and that merchandise is held for a week or so. If they determine that it is stolen, they can act on it right away.rCY

Pawn shops do this now. Metal recyclers donrCOt. Someone can allegedly
strip thousands in copper from a business on Christmas morning, sell it
the next day for $113.40, and nobody in law enforcement knows until a detective finds the receipt months later. King County Prosecuting
Attorney Leesa Manion has been pushing the legislature on this. The
database exists. Pawn shops prove the model works. One bill.

One thing worth noting: Valley Recycling did the right thing here. They recorded the plate number, identified the seller and his passenger, and cooperated fully with Kent Police. ThatrCOs exactly what prosecutors are asking every metal recycler in the state to do. Valley did it
voluntarily. A lot of recyclers donrCOt, and thererCOs no law that says they have to. ThatrCOs the gap.

A business that makes plastic forks for your local McDonaldrCOs has now
lost more than $180,000 to copper wire theft. The accused has 40 bench warrants and a criminal record stretching back to 2001. The receipt for
the stolen copper was on his floorboard with his own plate number on it.
And when the court asked him to show up and answer for it, he didnrCOt.

Charlie Harger is the host of rCLSeattlerCOs Morning NewsrCY on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here.
Follow Charlie on X and email him here.




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