ATLANTA - Metro Atlanta property owners say thieves are increasingly targeting air-conditioning units, sometimes stripping them for valuable metals and in other cases hauling away the entire system.

The thefts can happen in a matter of minutes, leaving victims without air conditioning during the summer heat and facing thousands of dollars in replacement costs.

Atlanta homeowner Kysii Ingram saw just how quickly it can happen after checking video from his Ring camera.


Ingram said he was out to dinner with his wife when he discovered two men had pulled into the driveway of a property he was preparing to sell.

The surveillance video shows the men backing a truck toward the outdoor A/C unit before taking the entire system in broad daylight.

 Very brazen because they didn't care,  Ingram said.

He said the thieves didn't need much time.

 The HVAC was gone within six to seven minutes,  Ingram said.

Ingram said Atlanta police have not caught the people responsible.

In the meantime, he was left with the bill. Ingram said he spent nearly $3,000 to replace the stolen A/C unit.

This time, however, he added another layer of protection: a steel security cage surrounding the new unit.

 The cage got on it immediately,  Ingram said.  They still can get it with a cage, but it just takes a lot longer. 

Chris Welch, owner of Ornamental Security, builds and installs security cages around outdoor A/C units. Welch told Channel 2's Ashlyn Webb he's seeing demand unlike anything he's experienced during his decades in business.

 I've never gotten this many calls about AC thefts ever,  Welch said.  And we've been in business since 1992. 


Channel 2 Action News met Welch at a Vine City Airbnb where he installed a steel cage around a brand-new A/C unit after the previous unit was stolen.

Welch said it's one of a number of recent jobs connected to A/C thefts.

At a Metro Atlanta Kroger, Welch said thieves stripped copper and other metals from several A/C units.

Welch's business builds barriers designed to turn what could othe

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