Thieves again hit Live Oak job site
WATSON — The fall opening of the new Live Oak High School here could be delayed after thieves stole more than $100,000 worth of copper and tools from the construction site during the weekend, officials said.
The thieves knew exactly what containers to break into, said Bruce Bacon, the job superintendent for Woodrow Wilson Construction Co.
“They broke into the plumber’s container and stole around $21,000 worth of copper and tools,” Bacon said. “Then they found one of the electrician’s trailers that had all of the main feed wires and they stole all the spools of that.”
Bacon estimated thieves took $70,000 worth of copper wiring from the electricians’ containers.
“It was obvious they knew what was going on around here,” he said. “They knew a lot about this job site.”
The thieves climbed a utility pole about 16 feet high, cut open a lock on a security camera, then took the camera, the job superintendent said.
“They knew what containers to go in,” Bacon said. “My container was right there by the others and they did not cut the locks off mine.”
The thieves must have had a trailer to carry what they took, he said.
Because the thefts happened in the middle of a residential area, Bacon said, “it’s amazing no one had seen anything.”
Workers were planning to begin installing the wiring Monday, the job superintendent said.
“We are going to have to replenish all the stock that was taken,” Bacon said.
Crews were still taking inventories Thursday to determine exactly what was taken, he said.
This was at least the eighth time that thieves were known to have robbed the school construction site.
In September, Livingston Parish sheriff’s detectives arrested three men accused of stealing copper wire.
Thieves also took a mini-excavator and $20,000 worth of steel plating, Bacon said in September.
“We don’t know at this point how much lost (construction) time” will result from the thefts, Bacon said. “It may delay the school opening.”
Bacon had hoped to have the school open in June and be ready for students in August, he said.
“This is a real concern,” said Bill Spear, superintendent of Livingston Parish schools. “Continuing to get these thefts is causing a real concern about whether it’s going to be open in the fall.”
Live Oak High School, in the unincorporated community of Watson north of Denham Springs, is situated in one of the fastest-growing parts of Livingston Parish.
In the mid-1990s, Live Oak High School had about 350 students, said John Watson, a former assistant principal at the school who is an assistant superintendent of parish schools.
As of Thursday, the high school had about 1,150 students, Watson said.
“The new Live Oak High School is being built to house approximately 1,700 or more students,” said Kellee Hennessy Dickerson, a School Board member who represents the Watson area.
Anyone with any information on the thefts is asked to call the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office at (225) 686-2241.