Louisiana Parish Deputies Uncover Scrap Fraud

Five people have been arrested on various charges after Union Parish sheriff’s investigators started an undercover operation into illegal purchasing of copper at a Farmerville, La., scrap metal business.

Sheriff Bob Buckley tells The News-Star his department received a number of complaints that Ajax Recycling was not following a new state law concerning the buying of copper wire.

The new law states that a person can’t sell copper wire without filling out the proper paperwork, then waiting five days. An employee at Ajax paid the undercover deputy when he brought in some wire on Nov. 6.

Buckley says the copper and other metal taken from a nursing home building were sold in Morehouse Parish and Union County, Ark.

He says the investigation is continuing.