Thieves targeting air conditioning units in order to gut them so they can get quick cash by selling their valuable scrap metal is not new.
But the intense heat Texas and other parts of the country have experienced this summer has literally made it a much more unbearable crime this year.
Authorities say the thefts are not related to the weather, but rather the high prices thieves can get for the copper and other metal parts inside the units.
In Dallas, the theft of an air conditioner might have contributed to the heat-related death last month of an elderly woman whose unit was stolen two days before she died.
Other parts of the country, including Georgia, Chicago and Philadelphia, have dealt with similar thefts this summer.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
