Thieves Steal Copper Pipes From Elderly Woman's Home For $50

TAUNTON (CBS) - The family of an elderly Taunton woman is furious after her house was ruined by thieves while she was home.

Police say two men broke into the 82-year-old woman's house on Hopewell Street last week and stole the copper pipes out of her basement.

"$2,000 in damage, for $50 worth of copper," the victim's son, Jim McMann told WBZ-TV.

WBZ-TV's Bill Shields reports

McMann said his mother realized something was wrong when she went to take a shower. There was no hot water. So she called him.

He found the copper pipes had been stolen.

"It blows my mind that they would do something of that sort," McMann said.

"We had braces on the door, we had metal bars across the door. They were able to kick open the door far enough to reach the metal bars to slide the bars across and then proceed to rip the rest of the door frame right off."

Police were called and an officer noticed bike tracks in the yard.

Then, they went to Enos Metal Works, where they found out two men on bicycles had just sold the pipes.

Police tracked down Roger Longmire and Cesar Borges and arrested them.

Investigators say one of them admitted he needed the money to buy heroin.