(WICHITA, Kan.) — When officers first arrived to the scene of Wichita motel, they knew the people who stripped the building of its copper would be back.
A public works employee went to the motel in 500 S. Webb Road to do some work when he discovered 75 air conditioners were stripped, along with plumbing and the rest of the copper in the building. The city of Wichita owns the motel.
"It was apparent that someone had been in and begun to strip out all the copper and plumbing from the old hotel," said Wichita Police Lieutenant Doug Nolte.
Police staked out the area, expecting the thieves to come back. And they were right.
When the thieves returned, officers saw flashlights in the building. Inside, police say, they found a 29 year old man and a 63 year old man in the process of stripping metal. They were arrested.
Police also tell us, they searched the men's pickup truck and inside they found stolen tools and other property from a burglary last year.
