ASHBURN, July 7 — The figure that matters: a 40% jump in construction site thefts in 2024 versus 2023, driven almost entirely by thieves targeting the data center boom in Loudoun County. Sheriff Mike O’Malley’s office is now fighting a two-front war — patrolling the world’s largest concentration of data centers while pushing for tighter laws on scrap metal dealers.
The bottom line: Loudoun County hosts more than 200 data centers — the corridor known as Data Center Alley — and that industry generated $1.2 billion in tax revenue in 2023. But the same construction sites that produce that revenue have become magnets for organized theft.
In May 2024, O’Malley’s investigators handled a single $200,000 copper cable theft in Ashburn alone.
By the numbers
O’Malley, first elected sheriff in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 and 2023, runs an operation with a $120 million budget and 1,200 personnel. He has served in law enforcement since 1992 and holds a criminal justice degree from George Mason University. His office has responded to the theft surge by increasing patrols and deploying surveillance drones over construction sites.
Investors will note the scale of the problem tracks directly with the scale of construction. Data centers require massive amounts of copper wiring and cabling — material that fetches high prices at scrap yards.
The sheriff’s office has coordinated with the FBI on organized theft rings that target critical infrastructure, recognizing that these are not isolated incidents but patterned criminal operations.
Regulatory push
O’Malley has advocated for stricter scrap metal dealer regulations, specifically calling for mandatory reporting requirements on large copper purchases. The logic is straightforward: if scrap yards must report big copper transactions, thieves have fewer places to sell stolen cable. The sheriff’s office has not disclosed whether any such regulations have been enacted at the county or state level.
The copper cable theft in Ashburn in May 2024 — valued at $200,000 — illustrates the stakes. That is not petty crime; it is industrial-scale theft that can delay construction timelines and drive up costs for data center developers already investing billions in Loudoun County.
What to watch
The question moving forward is whether increased patrols and drone surveillance can keep pace with the theft rate, or whether the sheriff’s office will need the regulatory changes O’Malley is pushing. With data center construction continuing at a rapid clip and copper prices remaining high, the incentives for organized theft rings are not going away. The 40% increase in 2024 set a baseline; the 2025 numbers will tell whether enforcement or regulation — or both — can bend the curve.
