Breaking into an electrical substation to swipe copper cable is about as stupid as siphoning gas from a moving 18-wheeler, but if it’s botched, you only hurt yourself. Pennsylvanian idiot thieves tried the former and turned off the lights.
Not only was their covert theft of all of the copper ground wire a desperate crime, it was an extremely dangerous one – you don’t want to go into a substation and start grabbing wires. It also knocked out electricity for “thousands” of residents in the town of only 23,000, so, thanks a lot jerks. [CBS Pittsburgh]