PPSD seeks charges against workers caught taking copper pipes from school
by: Alexandra Leslie
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The Providence Public School Department plans to seek criminal charges against two contract workers after they were caught trying to take copper pipes out of a defunct elementary school, Target 12 has learned.
Providence police said officers responded last Thursday morning to Mary Fogarty Elementary School, which is currently set to be torn down and rebuilt.
A facilities director told police she’d seen two workers taking copper pipes out of the building and putting them into an ABM Plumbing truck, according to a police report.
The R.I. Department of Education, which controls the Providence school district, hired ABM last year as its maintenance contractor, ending a longtime maintenance contract with a rival company, Aramark.
The director told police she confronted the workers, who told her, “they were told to take the pipes out of the building,” even though they then returned them back inside, according to a report.
The director said she called ABM and company officials confirmed the men worked for them, but said they were not ordered to take the copper pipes, according to police.
A district spokesperson confirmed no such activity was authorized that day, and there were no pending work orders assigned to the employees at the school.
As a result, ABM spokesperson Michael Valentino told Target 12 the employees have been suspended, pending an investigation.
“ABM holds all team members to high standards of ethical conduct, and we maintain zero tolerance for any behavior that fails to meet those standards,” Valentino said in a statement.
Copper is a popular metal that’s often targeted by thieves because of it has a high market value at scrap metal yards. It’s a popular item to be stolen off of worksites and old buildings. Most states have copper theft-specific laws, including Rhode Island.
District spokesperson Jay Wegimont said ABM officials had told them the company took away the workers’ keys, badges and vehicles, and that they were escorted home.
“These two individuals were long-standing members of Local Union 226 and were employed by Aramark before the facilities maintenance contract was awarded to ABM,” he said, adding that after reviewing the circumstances related to the incident it is now “the district’s intention to press charges.”
Just days before the incident last week, on Nov. 4, city and school leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony at the school, which the district said is part of their $1 billion school facilities plan that aims to put all students in a new or “like-new” school by 2030.
Construction of the new building, which is expected to reopen as a K-8 school, is scheduled to be completed in two years.
The school is currently boarded up and surrounded by a chain-link fence. Target 12 saw workers installing pieces of the fence on Friday morning.
“It should also be noted, there have been other break-ins to the school,” police wrote in a Nov. 7 report. “The school has missing property and appliances in other areas.”
On Nov. 8, a day later, officers were called to the school again for another report of suspicious activity.
“Dispatch informed police the caller stated that she heard a door close within the building when she was supposed to be the only person in the building,” police wrote in a report that day.
The woman told police she was inside, she heard a door being closed, and that she noted one of the doors was propped open with a yard stick, according to the report. Police said she also saw seven windows had been shattered.
Officers walked through the building and said while they didn’t find anyone actively breaking in, they confirmed seven windows had been shattered.
A police spokesperson said Friday they don’t believe the two incidents to be related, adding that they’ve reached out to the school district to discuss the ABM incident and haven’t yet heard back.
“The ABM employees were instructed by their employer to return the pipes and were not present when the police arrived,” spokesperson Samara Pinto said.
Separately, police report there was a break in at the Providence Career and Technical Academy on Fricker Street on over the night of Nov. 9.
“In this incident, a suspect was apprehended and charged after being linked to the theft of a cash register, which had no money,” Pinto said.
Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.