Air Conditioner Thefts Add Insult to Injury

The following information was reported by the

With temperatures seemingly stuck on 100 degrees-plus over the past few days and forecast to remain that way over the next several days, a non-air conditioned home can be a real health hazard. But it's a situation those in which two homeowners in High Ridge find after thieves stole their air conditioners this week.

Air conditioners often are the targets of thieves who will sell the scrap metal and copper tubing attachments.

Antire Road, High Ridge

A Heil home air conditioner was stolen from a home on Antire Road in High Ridge. It was valued at $600. The homeowner told a sheriff's deputy that all of the wires and tubing leading to the outside unit had been cut and the unit stolen sometime overnight between June 26 and 27. A fingerprint was lifted from a gray electrical box next to the unit. A canvass of the neighborhood turned up no other evidence.

West Rock Creek Road, High Ridge

Someone stole a Lennox Central Air Air conditioning unit June 27 from the back of a home on West Rock Creek Road, High Ridge. The unit was valued at $8,000. After a call from the homeowner, a sheriff's deputy responded and observed a circuit breaker system lying on the ground near the location of the missing air conditioner. It was seized as evidence.