LA PORTE, Ind. — Having copper wire stripped from irrigation systems is a concern among growers, but even more so following a string of metal thefts lately at several northwestern Indiana farms.

Hundreds of dollars in copper sold for scrap was netted from each of the farms victimized in LaPorte County, while each farmer was left picking up the tab for thousands in damages. The loss is magnified if the wire stripping occurs during a dry period when the irrigation systems left disabled could be used to keep crops adequately watered, said Andy Dietrick, a spokesman for Indiana Farm Bureau.

"It can be fairly damaging," he noted.

James Huspek-Hein Jr. of Wanatah is charged with one count of theft but admitted to several others, all in the southern part of LaPorte County, an area predominantly used for agriculture.

It’s alleged sometime between Aug. 31-Sept. 13, Huspek-Hein stripped 1,300 feet of copper wire from irrigation equipment south of Westville. The theft was discovered when the landowner tried to move his irrigator but it failed to start, according to LaPorte County Police.

The investigation several days later turned to the suspect’s home where evidence of insulation getting burned from wire to expose the copper was discovered. One of the piles of coiled wire in the backyard measured three feet high and six feet in diameter, police said.

They said Huspek-Hein admitted to thefts at several farms in the immediate area and implicated at least one other person. He also revealed the wire was removed from the top of the irrigators first working their way down as the wire was pulled out in sections, according to police.

According to police, Huspek-Hein said it would usually take about two hours to complete the stripping at each location, then after burning the wire right away, it was cashed in at a local scrap yard for roughly $200 each time.

One of the victims estimated the cost of repairs at about $6,000, and damage at the other farms carried a similar expense. Dietrick said stealing copper from irrigation systems is more of a problem in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the state. That’s where most of the irrigating in Indiana happens because of plentiful supplies of water available from aquifers linked to the Wabash River and Lake Michigan to feed the systems.

He explained stripping copper on farms is not a major issue statewide, but is a big deal in spots where it occurs. "It’s not a high-priority issue unless you are the farmer that has been ripped off by a copper thief," said Dietrick, who encourages local Farm Bureau branches to work with their respective law enforcement agencies whenever such thefts occur in their areas.

He also encouraged farmers to keep a sharp eye on their fields and the farms of neighbors to help catch any thieves and discourage such activity. He recalled how the ag community and law enforcement once came together to end a string of copper wire theft from irrigation systems in the southern part of the state during a dry season.

"The thefts stopped and people were able to get on with watering their crops," said Dietrick.

LaPorte County Police Major John Boyd said removing copper from irrigators has been a major problem locally for several years. However, local farmers in recent years have begun putting alarms on their irrigation systems and equipping their fields with surveillance cameras, which he said seems to be working to cut down on the number of copper strippings on farmland.

He said it’s difficult to catch thieves because they are usually close to the ground where they can’t be seen from roadsides, because of the cover provided by crops.