The blight of copper thievery in the Austin area reached an all-time low Halloween night when vandals hit the Capital Area Boy Scouts office in Northeast Austin.

Thieves stole two of the office's three air conditioning units. The cost to replace them and to put up protection is $10,000 -- money that was slated for the Boy Scouts 20,000 young members.

"We have young people in this community that may not get to do what they wanted to do because of budgetary concerns and that's a real shame" said J.T. Dabbs, the Capital Area Boy Scouts executive director.

On Wednesday, the Boy Scouts office hired crews to build a protective barrier around the area where the units will be housed.

But the Boy Scouts are not the only recent victims of copper theft.

In mid-September, weeks after the Junior League of Austin helped out three separate charities financially after their AC units were stolen for copper, the non-profit became a victim themselves when copper thieves stole three AC units from the Junior League's resale store on Burnet.

"If we are out of business or we have to close because people have stolen our air conditioners, then we're not able to make the money that agencies such as the Ronald McDonald or AIDS Services of Austin, places like that that need our help" said Donna Cowling, Junior League of Austin.

On Tuesday, the Copper Theft Taskforce, a special force formed in January with Austin police and the Travis County Sheriff's Department targeted a North Austin metal recycling business -- DNT Recycling.

Detectives believe that DNT may have been buying stolen copper.

The business owner was arrested and charged with felony theft which is punishable by up to two years in prison.

"They see air conditioning, they see copper wiring and they see the potential to make an easy buck and not realizing that they be stealing from the people who may in fact may be helping their families or others that they know" said Donna Cowling.