At least $2,000 in copper piping was reported stolen from McGee Plumbing, Heating & Sheet Metal as thieves continue to target the metal because of its high price.

Manager Larry Sills believed the theft occurred sometime between 5 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday at the business located at 807 Eloise Ave.

The copper, which fetches a price of $2.20 per pound, was in pipe form and was bought wholesale months ago when the price was three-times less expensive, Sills said.

It equates to somewhere between 600 to 700 pounds and a more realistic loss business-wise is in the area of $8,000 to $9,000 in charging customers in time and labor, Sills said.

"Now all our stock is gone," he said.

Sills said a security system is scheduled to be installed in the upcoming days.

Anyone with information on the theft can contact the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at (530) 542-6100 or Secret Witness at (530) 541-6800.



In other news:

-- A preliminary autopsy of William Matthew Lockwood concluded the 19-year-old from Fairfield died of asphyxiation and drowning on July 11 at a creek along Kiva Beach, according to El Dorado County sheriff's Coroner Larry Olsen.

A toxicology report to determine what may have been in Lockwood's system, if anything, is pending and could arrive in a few months.