He and another man were shocked when they allegedly attempted the theft, suffering severe burns and touching off an explosion and power outage.

The blast happened around 9 p.m. near a vacant hotel on Katella Avenue.

It caused several other neighborhood hotels and businesses filled with tourists to go dark.

However, power was restored a few hours later.

Anaheim police told KTLA5 News the men caused the explosion when they cut into live wires.

The pair was located behind a locked gate near two electrical panels, and several bolts had been removed from the panels.

One of the suspected thieves was homeless and had been hoping to make a little money off of the copper wires, witnesses said

Submitted on 02/15/2014

Submitted by: darwinfan
Reference: http://ktla.com/2013/05/11/two-would-be-copper-thieves-nearly-killed-in-anaheim-explosion/#axzz2tQ72

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
It's been a while since we've had a story involving crispy copper crooks, but Darwin still likes to receive them so off it goes. Thanks!

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Copper-copping crispy crook! Thanks!

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