Four Wings of the School Still Without Power as of Late Wednesday

La Mirada~Thieves stole copper wiring at Gardenhill Elementary School this past Monday evening/early Tuesday morning, leaving parts of the school without power all day Tuesday and Wednesday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, four wings of the school, including the kindergarten section, remained without power as district electricians, continued to work on replacing the wiring.

The wiring was stolen from underground, with the thieves accessing two manhole covers.

"At an unknown time, 110 feet of 1¼ inch copper wiring was stolen, resulting in approximately $800-$1000 dollars in damage, said Sergeant Gary Harman of the Norwalk Sheriff's station, "As a result, two wings of the school lost power."

Gardenhill office clerk Sandy Roberts told the La Mirada Blog that she, along with the custodian noticed the theft almost immediately, "We saw two big holes in the ground, it was kind of obvious something happened."

Roberts also indicated to us that the thieves also hit a different location during the heist, but what they found was not what they were looking for.

"That type of wire, insulated, could go anywhere from $170 to $210 a pound. If the thieves stripped it down, it could go as high as $280," said Steve Marriccini of Star Scrap Metal in La Mirada.

Officials hoped to have the electricity back online by late Wednesday afternoon. The school has had to do some scrambling to minimize the distraction from the curriculum, including temporarily shifting students to classrooms that have power.

This past summer, Norwalk High School was a target-with copper being stolen from air conditioning units. Other school sites in the district have reported copper-related thefts, including La Mirada High.

Norwalk-La Mirada unified School District Assistant Superintendent Estuardo Santillan explained this is nothing new, "Every school district is experiencing this problem right now. Copper is a hot commodity."