Liberty Utilities asks for public's help in reporting vandalism and theft

After experiencing several incidents of vandalism and theft, Liberty Utilities is asking the public for help by reporting suspicious activity or crimes around electrical facilities and structures in the utility's service area, according to a news release.

The public is asked to call local law enforcement or Liberty Utilities at 1-800-782-2506 to report suspicious activity around any of these electric facilities and structures.

In addition to the impact vandalism and theft have on utility customers (such as short-term outages and added operating expenses), there are serious safety dangers to vandals and thieves, according to the news release.

“We recently had a situation where the thief attempted to steal copper wiring and in the process, cut into some live lines,” according to Sam Rohn, Liberty Utility’s Environmental, Health, Safety and Security Manager. “At the very least, the vandal received a significant electrical shock, but could have been hurt much worse.”

Rohn noted that Liberty Utilities has increased their security measures at undisclosed locations.

Liberty Utilities serves approximately 49,000 customers on the California side of Lake Tahoe and adjacent areas to the south and north including the cities of Markleeville, Woodfords, Topaz, Coleville, Walker, parts of Truckee and Verdi, Portola and Loyalton.