Police: Copper wire stolen from Atlanta set of 'Anchorman 2'

Atlanta police say a thief stole hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of copper wire and tools from a film location for the movie Anchorman 2.

The owner says the thieves kicked in a door at a warehouse on Defoors Hills Road and began going through the building, yanking hundreds of thousands of dollars in wire. The warehouse, which has hosted numerous productions over the last several months, was hit twice -- once around Christmas and a second time on New Year's Day.

 "Unfortunately the alarm, we found out, was off Christmas Day with the other tenant moving.  We got it activated once we found out two days after Christmas, when this tenant came in to get their phone lines set up, saw that all the electrical boxes were open, copper was stolen, they immediately called the police," said the landlord, Rick Spiller.
 
The thefts came after production ended on the Arnold Schwarzenegger film "Breacher" and just before the producers of the Will Ferrell "Snchorman" sequel began working there.

After days of electricians rewiring the structure and security upgrades, crews are once again back at work.

The building's landlord also says the thief got out of this car and ran after the second theft.
 
"He also recovered the electrician's tools as well as some additional copper he'd come back to steal.  The alarm did go off, but not in one section he was in immediately, so he did some more damage," Spiller said.
      
Spiller is hopeful that the car leads police to the thief but his concern is that the thefts will discourage other productions from setting up shop in Atlanta.
 
"This was an isolated incident, but it is one that will continue, I think, until we get the laws in place to stop them from selling them at a market," said Spiller.

The wires contain a large amount of copper and there is a concern that maybe thieves may come back to the area and strike once again.