THE CABLE GUY
Wire thief a subway scourge
This thief has some mettle. Prince Hayes has been ripping off copper wiring from the New York City subway system for more than a decade — a crime that has resulted in dozens of train delays and a vast amount of money in repairs.
Armed with pliers and a hacksaw, the daring crook deftly cuts and removes portions of the thick copper cable in the subway tunnels, part of the power circuits streaming hundreds of volts of electricity.
The 56-year-old Hayes is adept at cutting the wires and does so while trains are rushing by at high speed. Adding to the risk, cutting the wrong section of the heavy cable could result in electrocution.
The Brooklyn-based menace sells the copper parts at scrapyards in the borough for up to $5 a pound. The cash could be feeding a drug habit, sources speculated, pointing to several past drug-possession charges.
His crimes can cause subway mayhem and even risk straphangers’ lives.
When Hayes goes in for the theft, the damaged cable can trip the emergency brakes on a train. MTA crews are then sent in to investigate the stopped train, causing massive delays down the line.
In one instance, Hayes’ copper thefts caused an explosion in a subway tunnel, authorities said. On another occasion, Hayes’ handiwork caused the MTA to suspend service on one subway line and reroute trains on three separate lines.
Hayes has a rap sheet of 49 arrests that dates to 1989. He was sentenced in 2016 to two years in prison for reckless endangerment for stealing copper and endangering the lives of passengers, according to authorities, and has been locked up at the Wyoming Correctional Facility in upstate Attica.
But he was recently granted parole and could be back prowling the tunnels by the summer.
The MTA has had Hayes in its sights since at least 2005. Every time he is released from prison, the NYPD alerts officials at the MTA that Hayes is free and could strike again, an MTA official told The Post.
When Hayes has left prison in the past, it hasn’t taken him long to jump back onto the tracks and prowl the train tunnels again, hacking off sections of copper cable.
“We do not generally talk about such crimes so as not to encour- age others to attempt this,” NYC Transit President Andy Byford told The Post. “This person is a known recidivist, and we work closely with NYPD to protect our assets.”
An MTA spokesman would not comment on how much Hayes’ thefts have cost in repairs.
A spokesman for the state Department of Corrections said Hayes could be out of prison as early as July.