Thieves from the professional to the bumbling are scaling cellphone towers, ripping off baseball field lights, looting construction sites, tearing out potentially lethal live wires, removing huge spools from utility company grounds, hauling off massive sculptures in the middle of the night and even stealing gravestone plaques and then selling the copper.

In response, lawmakers and authorities are taking steps to catch more thieves and are toughening the punishment for those who are convicted.

[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/10/AR2008051002239.html?nav=rss_nation “Read the Article”) (Washington Post)