A brazen heist last month has Southwire and law enforcement officials wondering what happened to $500,000 worth of copper.

“This is the first case of theft of materials or product of this magnitude that I know of,” said Southwire Corporation spokesman Gary Leftwich on Thursday. “It’s quite rare to see three truckloads of copper rod disappear.”

The theft reportedly occurred on April 29, but was reported to Carrollton Police on Tuesday, five days after it took place.

Carrollton Police Lt. James Perry said Southwire reported three 18-wheeler trucks, green, white and red in color, arrived that day and were loaded with copper destined for Indiana. The trucks displayed the name of L. Transport in arch style writing.

The trucks had been sent to Southwire by an independent broker for the purpose of making the Indiana delivery. The names used by the drivers were Andy Torres, Louis Delgato and Raul Camacho. The broker had received faxed information for these loads showing the trucking company name to be LaRolle Transport out of Miami/Hialeah, Fla.

“LaRolle states these are not their trucks,” Perry said. “The broker received paper work for LaRolle but the trucks themselves had L. Transport on them.”

The loads did not arrive as scheduled in Indiana, and the identity of the true owners of the trucks is unknown. Perry said the physical descriptions given of the three driver suspects were poor and of not much use.

Leftwich said the drivers appeared to have all the proper documents to pick up the shipment, but the documents were indeed fakes. He described the theft as an “isolated incident.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now involved and Carrollton Police have made contact with law enforcement officials in Hialeah, Fla., who are also assisting with the case.

Electricity providers such as Georgia Power Company and EMC Carroll are sometimes targeted by copper thieves who will steal wire from power stations and transformers for resale on the black market, at great risk to themselves and to the providers’ employees. Phillip Peacock, a security specialist with Georgia Power, said that as of last month the price of copper, per pound, was $3.39 to $3.50.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the Carrollton Police Department at 770-834-4451.