A series subway copper thief with a lengthy arrest record was busted Wednesday for trying to sell transit cables he allegedly took from the Brooklyn subway system.
Prince Hayes, 63, was caught cutting and stripping a piece of copper cable from a subway track, police said — and was tracked down Wednesday after authorities discovered a pattern of stolen copper cables.
Police caught up with Hayes on 19th St. in Gowanus near Scrap King, where Hayes aimed to sell the stolen cable, police sources said.
Hayes, who was said to have over 60 arrests dating back to the 1980s, was charged with criminal possession of stolen property. It was unclear from which station the cables came.
His arraignment in Brooklyn criminal court was pending Wednesday night.
Hayes has been on the NYPD’s radar since 2021, when he was pulled over near the same scrap yard trying to sell 31 pounds of copper allegedly stolen from the subway system.
“I didn’t do anything,” Hayes said then as he was led out of the NYPD’s Transit District 30 headquarters in downtown Brooklyn. When asked where he was stealing the cables from, he curtly replied, “None with you.”
Hayes was also run over 2019 in an attempt to sell 15 feet of stolen copper, which was slung over his shoulder on the way to the same scrap yard.
“This is what he does,” a police source said after the incident in 2019. “He steals copper.”
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