Copper thefts this year total $90,000

BART police are hunting a slippery copper crook whose thieving antics forced a train operator to hit the brakes Sunday.


A speeding train was forced to stop around 10 a.m. Sunday to avoid striking a thief who was pilfering copper wiring directly from the trackway between the Balboa Park and Daly City stations, according to BART cops and an agency employee with knowledge of the situation.


The crook also is suspected in the Friday morning theft of copper from a trackway just before 2 a.m., BART police spokeswoman Era Jenkins said.


BART police know the suspect, Jenkins said. His identity is not being released due to the ongoing investigation.


“Detectives are actively working on … search warrants,” Jenkins said.


The crook managed to elude law enforcement on Friday, according to the anonymous BART employee, who was not authorized to speak to the media. The suspect’s vehicle was apparently parked illegally near the tracks. Officers who spotted the car called for a tow truck.


“They probably weren’t even aware that he was on the tracks,” the employee said. “I guess they didn’t realize at the time that his vehicle was loaded with BART stuff.”


After the officers left and the tow truck was preparing to take the vehicle away, the thief returned and somehow got his vehicle back, the employee said.


While BART has dealt with copper wire thefts before, the number of such incidents have increased recently, transit agency spokesman Jim Allison said.


The thefts, which mostly occur overnight when trains aren’t running, can be hazardous to both the system and the thieves, Allison said.


“Trains come by sometimes at 80 miles per hour,” he said. “They can come up on people without them even realizing it.”


Thieves target two types of copper wires on BART’s trackway. One returns electricity from the electric third rail to the transit agency’s power supply. Pulling that wiring can cause stray currents potentially able to cause fires, Allison said.


Authorities reported two separate incidents in the last week involving bandits cutting cables and disturbing the train tracks, all in the quest for copper.


The Bay Area Rapid Transit police were called Sunday after a driver operating a moving train spotted a man on the tracks. The man escaped but left behind damaged equipment, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.


Two days earlier, a transit police officer was patrolling a station at 2 a.m. when he noticed a suspicious pickup truck. The officer questioned two people nearby in connection with possible copper theft, but they denied any wrongdoing.


Transit agencies in the Bay Area acknowledge that copper theft is common and has caused delays in some maintenance projects in the past.


No arrests have been made but police have targeted at least one suspect and a few other persons of interest, BART police Deputy Chief Benson Fairow said.
Fairow said it is unlikely that the burglaries were an inside job by a BART employee, but he would not rule it out.
Police did not provide a suspect description.
The track burglaries have not interrupted daily service, but they have strained the transit agency's electrical system, Allison said.
Also, the repeated crimes are dangerous for the burglars, who risk electrocution or being hit by a train.
BART has incurred labor costs in addition to the price of lost supplies, as crews sometimes must spend more than one shift to replace the wire, he said.
"This is a theft from the taxpayers," BART board director Robert Raburn said, noting that tax dollars pay for stolen goods and repairs.
BART's most costly copper theft occurred in the summer in a Pleasant Hill yard, where burglars


stole a spool of cable set to be used for a construction project in Contra Costa County, Raburn said.
That project has been delayed because of the theft, he said.
BART officials on Tuesday called for authorities to place more accountability on scrap metal yards, which buy the copper wire for $3 to $4 per pound.
"If people weren't buying it, people wouldn't be stealing it," Allison said.


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Newport Beach Man Charged With Drugging, Raping 2 Women

Authorities are looking for people who may have been sexually assaulted by a Newport Beach man already accused of drugging and raping two women.


Adel Regragui, 42, is charged with three felonies of forcible rape, two felonies of forcible oral copulation, felony sexual penetration by force and sodomy by force.


He faces up to 115 years in prison, if convicted, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. He is also facing sentencing enhancements for allegedly assaulting multiple victims and tying and binding a victim, the Daily Pilot reported.


Authorities say Regragui met a 23-year-old woman at a party in May 2010 and invited her to his house, where he drugged and raped her.


Prosecutors claim Regragui drugged and raped a 21-year-old woman he met at a Balboa Peninsula bar at his house this June.


They also say he raped the same woman in November and dressed her in lingerie that wasn't hers, tied her hands together and raped her while she was unconscious.


Prosecutors have charged Adel Regragui, 42, of Newport Beach, with one count of rape, one felony count each of forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration with a foreign object by force of a woman authorities call Jane Doe #1.


Regragui was charged with two felony counts of rape, one count each of forcible oral copulation and sodomy by force of Jane Doe #2.

California couple released from hospital after attack by naked, 300-lb bodybuilder

A California couple is recovering after they were savagely beaten by a 300-pound naked bodybuilder in a bizarre encounter outside their home, police said.


Ruben Arzu, 22, was waiting on the unidentified couple's front porch when they returned to their home in Colton, Calif., at around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, The San Bernardino Sun reported.


When the 34-year-old woman fled inside to call police, the nude brute attacked her husband, 35, "causing major head trauma and injuries," police told the newspaper.


When the man's wife tried to stop the beating, Arzu went after her, tossing her around like a rag doll and splitting open her head, police said.


Arzu took off after the attack, but neighbors cornered him in the backyard of another home, the Sun said.


Cops said it took four officers and multiple jolts from a Taser gun to finally take the muscle-bound thug down.


Arzu was injured in the scuffle and still recovering at a hospital on Tuesday, police said.


He was expected to be booked for attempted homicide and aggravated mayhem.


The couple was released from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center on Tuesday.


Arzu, 22, is awaiting booking on suspicion of attempted homicide and aggravated mayhem, Colton police Officer Todd Smith said. His condition was not immediately available.


“The couple showed up at home from a party and he’s there in their front yard, naked,” said Smith, adding that the victims did not know Arzu.


Police said Arzu attacked the husband and caused major head trauma after the 36-year-old man confronted him.


The 34-year-old woman ran inside the house and called 911. When she came back out to check on her husband, Arzu picked her up and threw her around, causing facial injuries and multiple cuts to her head, Smith said.


Before officers arrived, a neighbor came out of her house to try and help the woman but ran back inside when Arzu turned to confront her, Smith said.


The names of the two victims were not released.


KABC and The Sun of San Bernardino cited authorities while reporting Arzu had been taking steroids and was under the influence of other drugs. Smith could not confirm those reports.

Naked bodybuilder attacks Colton couple, police say

California - Police say a naked, 300-pound bodybuilder savagely beat a Southern California couple at their home, leaving them in critical condition.
The Sun of San Bernardino says 22-year-old Ruben Arzu apparently was under the influence of steroids and other drugs, and it took four police officers, two stun gun blasts and four sets of handcuffs to restrain him.


Police say the couple came home late Saturday to find Arzu naked on the front porch of their home in Colton.


When Arzu was confronted by the 35-year-old husband, police say the bodybuilder attacked the man, causing major head trauma.


The attack by the intruder -- who was likely under the influence of steroids and other drugs, according to police -- sent both to the hospital with critical injuries, the San Bernardino County Sun reported Monday.


Colton police told the Sun that Ruben Arzu, 22, was on the couple's front porch when they arrived home Saturday night and "violently attacked" the 35-year-old man, leaving him with major injuries, including head trauma.


His wife ran into the house to call police and after she came back outside, the bodybuilder, who stood about 5-feet-10, went after her, police said, picking up the 34-year-old woman and flinging her around, leaving her with facial injuries and several deep cuts on the top of her head.


Police said Arzu then ran into a neighbor's yard, where neighbors cornered him until police arrived. He did not respond when police used a Taser on him. It took four officers and four sets of handcuffs to restrain him, police said.
Arzu also was taken to the hospital. The Sun reported the couple were in stable condition as of Monday, and Arzu was expected to be booked by police on suspicion of attempted homicide and aggravated mayhem.

Serial arsonist sought in 22 Long Beach fires

On May 16, shortly after midnight, surveillance cameras mounted on the Green Room, a marijuana dispensary in Long Beach, recorded a hooded man carrying milk jugs apparently filled with gasoline.


Minutes later, the man is seen running away from the burning building with his right arm on fire.


The short video clip was played at a Monday news conference regarding a string of fires in the central part of town — 22 in the last six months. Authorities said they have been unable to determine if the man in the video, whom they estimate to be 18 to 25 years old and heavyset, is the serial arsonist.


There have been 22 fires ranging from trash fires, vehicle fires and commercial structure fires since mid-May. It has been determined that many of these fires are arson and possibly related, said Capt. Richard Brandt of the Long Beach Fire Department.


The most recent fires occurred over the Thanksgiving weekend when two minivans were burned within a block of each other on Gardenia and Rose avenues.


Additional evidence has been uncovered that make these fires a federal crime. Investigators are continuing to analyze pictures and surveillance videos from these fires, Brandt said.


Involved in the investigation is the Long Beach Fire/Police Arson Unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


The ATF is offering two separate $5,000 rewards for tips leading to the capture and conviction of the suspects involved in two commercial building fires and two car fires, Brandt said.


Anyone with information on the fires was asked to call the Long Beach Fire Department Arson Hotline at (562) 570-2582.