Theiving copper has got to be an urban myth. The dollar to weight ratio is so low that you'd need a big truck to make a haul worthwhile, and stealthy removal would be so labor intensive (ba dum) that, even if you excluded the tools and transport costs, you'd make more flipping burgers. I could see contractors grabbing what's easily accessed in the course of normal demolition. Stealing installed copper for profit, no way. I'm sure it's happened on the basis of the myth, which seems popular ever since that Sopranos episode, but I imagine those who gave it a shot without doing the math were left disappointed.
I know nothing of this story but am guessing he was trying to get free power, not free copper.