A 47-year-old man who was on probation for terroristic threatening was sent to prison for five years yesterday.

Alden Kaupiko pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft and trespassing charges related to copper theft and pleaded with Circuit Judge Steven Alm not to be sent to prison.

Alm denied the request, revoked Kauipko's probation for the previous conviction, ordering him to prison for five years. The judge also sentenced Kaupiko to 30 days behind bars for the misdemeanor crimes.

Kaupiko was arrested in November after he allegedly cut down a utility pole to steal copper wiring.

Also in court yesterday, a woman accused in a police undercover investigation of illegal purchases of stolen copper pleaded not guilty to attempted theft, and trial was set for May.

The defendant, Kyung Hee Chon, 44, of Halawa, was arrested last month at Aiea Recycling on Dillingham Boulevard after she allegedly agreed to purchase a 653-pound spool of copper wiring that was clearly marked as property of Hawaiian Electric Co.

The arrest was part of a police investigation in which undercover officers offered to sell copper to recyclers without necessary proof of ownership or personal identification.

Losses in copper-theft cases surpassed $760,000 in 2006, according to HPD statistics. Copper prices on world markets have increased dramatically in recent years, prompting criminals to seek out the commodity.

The state Department of Transportation estimated last May that thieves had caused $320,000 in damage by ripping out copper wiring from freeway light fixtures along the Central and West O'ahu corridors.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.