Stolen Plumbing Parts Crippling Local Businesses
Customers hoping to eat at McDonald’s on Wednesday received an unusual greeting.
“Sorry, we’re closed!” said one employee.
The franchise located on Jackson St. was closed because someone stole its backflow valve located outside. As a result, there was no water service or water pressure.
“That’s really weird,” said Andie Aldana, who arrived at the restaurant with her mother. “I don’t know what to say about that.”
Strange as it may sound, plumber Gerry Vidal said it’s a growing crime.
“This is brass, and brass is very expensive,” he said. “It’s like copper nowadays. [Salvage yards] want a lot of money for them.”
Vidal was hired to install the new valve. It takes a couple of hours to install it, but it takes only ten minutes to steal one.
“They’re using power-hand tools and cordless tools,” said Officer Ben Guitron, of the Indio Police Dept. “They just cut around the pipe and walk away with it.”
But, there are some things companies can do to protect their valves, Guitron said.
They can put a cage around them or paint them. The value of a painted valve depreciates at the recycling center.
Some McDonald’s customers said people are becoming desperate these days.
“There’s so many people out of work,” said Bob Graham, of Indio. “They steal anything. That’s the problem.”
Guitron said this type of crime is happening at least once a month. But, it was worse three years ago.
It’s just too bad the suspects disrupted other people’s breakfast and left them hungry.
“Now, I don’t have anywhere to go to get some breakfast,” said Robert Moger.
