People v. Ruiz CA4/3

FACTS

One evening, Ruiz vandalized and attempted to steal copper piping from a strip mall’s roof. A shop owner heard footsteps on the roof and called the police. Police found Ruiz on the roof, wearing a backpack that contained several construction tools, including a pipe cutter and saw. Ruiz did not possess any copper piping. After helping detain Ruiz, Deputy Ryan Hoopii took pictures of the damage to several air conditioning units on the rooftop. About one week later, a service technician from HVAC Mechanical, a commercial air conditioning company, reviewed the total damage. The service technician relayed the repair information, such as the size and lengths of the copper needed, to his service manager, Nick Hooper. Hooper’s duties included managing the service department, dispatching calls, and writing repair quotes. Hooper said he used information from “one of [the copper pipe] distributors” to determine what “rate copper was going for during that week” to establish the cost to replace the copper needed for repairing the damaged air conditioning units. The price quote included the cost to replace P-traps and copper drain pipes for five air conditioning units, requiring the…