As the city looks to cut down on copper wire theft, the Los Angeles Police Department on Wednesday announced the arrests of two men accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth.

The LAPD said officers responded to reports of grand theft around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 15000 block of Germain Street in Mission Hills. Upon arrival, they found four suspects who had appeared to cut large quantities of copper wire from an electrical pole.

Just one of the four suspects complied with officers' demands and was immediately taken into custody, police said. The other three fled on foot.

Officers caught one of those three and took him into custody. The two arrested were identified as 53-year-old Concepcion Vasquez and 51-year-old Jose Garcia Avila, who were booked into Van Nuys Jail on s

See Full Page