Thieves targeted copper wire in one of two metal-theft incidents earlier this week in West Hempfield Township.

Three teenagers attempted to steal copper cables Tuesday morning from power poles along a railroad line that runs through Chickies Rock Park, police said.

Justin M. Shade, 18, of Sinking Spring, and two 17-year-old males from Reading and Mohnton will be charged with theft and criminal mischief, police said.

Police were dispatched to the park along the Susquehanna River to investigate a report of three suspicious males cutting cables from power poles about 8:30 a.m.

When police arrived, the suspects were gathering up the wire and their equipment, and they fled when officers approached, police Sgt. Russell Geier said Wednesday. They were apprehended a short time later, he said.

Geier said the three were equipped with "lineman gear" used by utility workers, such as spiked shoes.

"They definitely knew what they were doing," he said.

Once an exact damage amount is determined by Norfolk Southern Railroad, on whose property the power poles are located, charges will be filed, Geier said.

Tampering with power lines has proven to be extremely hazardous. In May, a man was electrocuted in Eden Township while trying to cut copper wires from an active high-voltage line on the Enola Low-Grade Line, police said.

West Hempfield Township's other incident of metal theft this week involved scrap.

Employees of Kline Transport Services, 1150 Corporate Blvd., reported aluminum and other scrap metal was stolen from the property overnight Monday. The scrap was outside, behind a building on the property, Geier said.

More than $700 worth of metal was stolen, police said.

Price hikes for metal have made the theft of copper wire and scrap more lucrative, producing an upsurge in such crime locally and nationwide.

E-mail: jtodd@lnpnews.com