SOUTH BEND — Three people were arrested earlier this week after they allegedly stole electrical cable wires from AT&T that the company values at $30,000.

Two men, ages 21 and 18, and a 28-year-old woman are accused of stealing the wiring from a tower in the 1400 block of Prairie Avenue on the southwest side of the city.

Police say someone noticed the suspects cutting wire from a large pile in the backyard of a home in the 1000 block of North College Street, where two of the suspects live, and called Crime Stoppers.

Police went to the scene, and an AT&T representative was later called out and identified the stolen wiring. Police say there were several 5- and 8-foot pieces of the wiring in a pile 3 feet high.

“Some of them were cut up,” South Bend police Sgt. Dominic Zultanski said.

Zultanski said the cable that was stolen is as thick as someone’s wrist, but thieves will cut through the insulation to get the actual wiring inside. An area scrap yard representative told police that amount of plain wire can be sold at a scrap yard for $10,000.

“This is way more than the average theft,” South Bend police Lt. Rick McGee said.

Copper prices have skyrocketed in recent years, and copper can sell for nearly $4 a pound.

A 15-year-old boy also was questioned, police said, but was not arrested.