City Of Sacramento Cracking Down On Metal Thieves

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The city of Sacramento is cracking down on metal thieves.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has have now assigned a full-time detective to metal thefts in the area.

In just the last couple of weeks, 75 manhole covered have been stolen for scrap. The owner of Ming's Recycling tells CBS13 he turned people away for trying to sell the city and county-owned covers.

"It's costly to be in compliance, said Kenny Luong, owner of Ming's Recycling. "It's not difficult, it's just costly."

Metal recyclers will soon be able to send their purchase records electronically instead of by mail to the sheriff's office.