Transformer damaged, results in power outages following copper theft in Danville

DANVILLE, Va. – A copper theft left a transformer damaged and resulted in a widespread power outage in Danville, Danville Police Department said.

DPD said they are investigating a copper theft that occurred in the 100 block of Hereford Lane on Saturday. Upon arrival, officers found holes cut in a fence around the substation. They found that 40 grounding wires of 4-gauge copper wire were removed from the infrastructure piers, as well as grounding wires from the large power transformers at the substation.

The loss of the grounding wires resulted in serious damage to the transformer, which led to an outage.

This incident is still under investigation. If you have any information regarding this copper theft, please contact the Danville Police Department by doing one of the following:

• contact 911
• contact patrol at 434-799-6510, option 4
• contact investigations at 434-799-6508 option 3, and option 1 again
• contact Crime Stoppers at 434-793-0000
• approach any officer you see
• email crimetips@danvilleva.gov
• use the crime tips app CARE here