Copper wire theft in Louisville, Kentucky, has plummeted by 90% over the past year, according to AT&T — a dramatic turnaround the carrier credits to a sustained partnership between the city, law enforcement, and the telecom industry. But even as Louisville celebrates measurable progress, AT&T warns the problem has migrated east, where rural communities are paying a steep price in outages, repair costs, and disrupted 911 services.
In a blog post published June 17, AT&T Kentucky President Carlos Sanchez laid out the Louisville numbers in striking detail. After experiencing as many as three incidents of copper wire theft per day in late 2023 and early 2024, AT&T Kentucky has seen significant improvement in Louisville. From January 2025 to January 2026, theft incidents impacting AT&T Kentucky’s network in Louisville dropped 90%. In February and March of this year, there were zero incidents.
Sanchez credited appropriate local laws and a coordinated task force response for the arrests and sharp decline in theft, noting that the results show that when communities, elected officials, service providers, and law enforcement work together, progress is possible.
A Tremendous Drop in Louisville, But the Thefts Didn’t Stop — They Moved
The turnaround in Louisville was built on multiple fronts. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg signed a new ordinance making possession of stolen infrastructure wiring a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500 or a year in jail. The ordinance also requires scrap metal recyclers to photograph sellers, their IDs, and vehicles, and only pay by mailed check. That local action followed Kentucky legislators’ passage of Senate Bill 64 during the 2025 session, which makes it a felony to tamper with or damage critical infrastructure in the state, including cable, telephone, broadband, and electrical highway infrastructure.
But Sanchez was equally direct that Louisville’s success has not translated statewide. So far this year, there have been 99 reported thefts in Kentucky, costing roughly $500,000 in repairs. In 2025, there were 205 thefts, resulting in $1.6 million in repair costs and affecting more than 8,000 residential and business customers. With 2026 already at 99 incidents by mid-year, the statewide pace is on track to match — or exceed — last year’s totals.
Much of the problem has shifted to Eastern Kentucky, including areas like Pike County and surrounding counties. The consequences in those communities have been severe. In Martin County last year, the theft and cutting of fiber-optic and phone lines caused a widespread outage, leaving residents unable to reach 911. In January 2026, the theft of roughly 1,500 feet of telecommunications cable disrupted internet service across multiple counties and left 911 lines down for about five hours in Estill County.
Repeated cable theft incidents across parts of Eastern and Central Kentucky have also affected counties, including Laurel, Clay, Knox, and Estill, disrupting residents’ ability to contact first responders, emergency services, and local law enforcement. As Sanchez put it, these are not isolated property crimes — they are attacks on infrastructure people rely on every day.
Task Force Success in Louisville; AT&T Offers $10,000 Reward as Eastern Kentucky Battles Surge
In Pike County, law enforcement arrested a suspect in connection with the theft of AT&T telecommunications cable, with evidence including surveillance video — a case that shows both the persistence of the problem and the importance of strong coordination between service providers and law enforcement.
To combat the Eastern Kentucky threat, AT&T is now offering a $10,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest and conviction of suspects in copper theft cases in Kentucky. The reward program is designed to encourage community reporting, with anonymous tips accepted.
On the legislative side, Kentucky built on Louisville’s scrap dealer model statewide. Senate Bill 291, passed during the 2026 legislative session, establishes a statewide licensing and oversight system for secondary metals recyclers, strengthening reporting requirements for metals transactions by requiring recyclers to submit additional information to a state database, including a copy of the seller’s ID and photos of both the seller’s vehicle and the property being sold.
In April, the Carter County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it was investigating copper thefts that left some residents without service for nearly a week. Kinetic (Windstream) also announced a $10,000 reward for information in that area.
Louisville’s 90% reduction is a genuine and hard-won achievement — proof that aggressive, coordinated enforcement can move the needle. But with 99 Kentucky thefts already logged in the first half of 2026 and entire rural counties losing 911 access when a single cable is cut, AT&T’s message is clear: the fight is far from over.
Residents with information about suspicious activity near utility lines or network equipment are encouraged to call local law enforcement or AT&T Global Security at 1-800-807-4205. Tips can be submitted anonymously.
