ReMA Members Work Hand-in-Hand with Law Enforcement on Materials Theft Cases
This past month, Todd Foreman, ReMA’s Senior Director of Law Enforcement Outreach, assisted law enforcement and insurance investigators in locating the correct owners of copper cathodes and nickel ingots by reaching out to a network of helpful ReMA members.
“This is just one example of how ReMA members are able to collaborate well with law enforcement and insurance investigators to assist in cases of materials theft,” Foreman said.
On April 24, 2026, Foreman received a call from an insurance investigator working with law enforcement who had located barrels of nickel ingots and pallets of copper cathode. Law enforcement had located a warehouse with stolen cargo and served a search warrant and located these materials.
“They reached out to me because they knew I had the contacts and thought we could identify the owners,” Foreman said. “First, I reached out to ReMA members I knew who worked with nickel. They were a great help and within hours we had the owners located. The owners did not know the material had been stolen in a cargo theft at the point we contacted them. I put them in contact with the investigator so they could work on getting the material returned.”
Foreman initially anticipated that locating the copper cathodes would be more difficult. He contacted a ReMA member and only had a photo of the tag . The member suggested it may have been from Canada because of the tag and weight.
“So, I contacted another member who works in the area of Canada and meanwhile had obtained photos of the cathode pallets,” Foreman said. “After sharing those photos, the members thought the material would have originated in Mexico or South America. I contacted the investigator and he started working with customs and border patrol. He found where it entered the U.S. and the origin of the materials, which provided the owner.”
According to Foreman, ongoing collaboration between recyclers and law enforcement at the national, state, and local levels is essential to develop effective solutions to the rising problem of metals theft.
“ReMA is involved in multiple fiber cut task forces that include these companies and law enforcement, and I’ll be going to the next meeting next month,” he said. “We also continue to promote the use of ScrapTheftAlert.com, a real-time communication system that connects recyclers and law enforcement to recover stolen materials and identify suspects. Through these efforts and more ReMA works ton continue building relationships between recyclers and law enforcement and share the tools we have that can help prevent theft or catch thieves.”