IMPD busts metal theft ring

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Police busted a metal theft ring responsible for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in metal from Marion County property owners.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police are still searching for one man, who they say took part in the thefts.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry says the ring leader is Jimicheal Parker. He was arrested just days ago in Memphis, Tenn. Parker has waived extradition. He's accused of orchestrating a crime spree that affected four buildings. Parker is facing a number of charges including tax evasion, burglary and theft.

Prosecutor Curry says metal theft is a $1 billion industry. The prosecutor’s office has been investigating the metal theft in Marion County for 18 months.

“In the first six months of 2012 that more than $800,000 in air conditioners alone had been stolen in Marion County, when you add in gutters, siding and the like you can imagine the magnitude of the problem we're talking,”  Curry said.

One of the property’s targeted had more than $100,000 in damage.

”They came in, they got some of the major wiring of the building, the breaker boxes they broke in did that, police were here did an investigation,” explains Mark Hall, owner of the building.

Hall says they came back again, eight weeks later and destroyed the building even more. Now, he says, if he makes the insurance claim, the building could become uninsurable in the future, or he could decide not to fix it and take the hit.

“A possibility is not to fix it and if somebody comes to the table and wants to buy the building we'll just lower the price of the building to compensate for the loss and the damage in the building,” says Hall.

The prosecutor also charged five other accomplices with theft charges and failing to file a tax return. Along with Jimicheal Parker, police arrested Gerald Joyce, Anton Harris, Antwoine Harris and Clinton Skinner. Courtney Parker is still on the run.