LOUDOUNT COUNTY, Va. — When Mike Chapman took office as the elected sheriff of Loudoun County in 2016, he inherited a sprawling suburban jurisdiction just west of Washington, D.C. What he did not anticipate, however, was that his corner of Virginia would become the epicentre of a new kind of industrial crime wave — one fuelled by the region’s explosive growth as a global hub for artificial intelligence. Chapman oversees a department of 1,200 employees and a budget of $200 million.
But for the past year, a significant portion of his attention has been focused on a specialised task force he created in February 2025 to combat the theft of copper and other equipment from AI data centre construction sites. Loudoun County now hosts more than 200 data centres, many of them under construction or expansion to meet the insatiable demand for computing power that AI requires.
The thefts, Chapman has publicly stated, are costing developers millions of dollars and are delaying the very AI infrastructure projects that the United States is counting on to maintain its technological edge.
A specialised response to organised theft
The task force Chapman formed is not a general-purpose crime unit. It was created with a specific mandate: to target the organised rings that strip copper wiring, cooling equipment, and other valuable metals from construction sites. These are not petty thefts.
The scale of the operation is industrial, and the losses have mounted quickly. As of March 2025, the task force had made 12 arrests and recovered $2 million in stolen equipment.
The recoveries include not just copper but also high-value components such as transformers, cabling, and server racks that had been stripped before they could be installed. For developers, the thefts mean more than just lost materials — they force construction halts, trigger insurance claims, and push completion dates further out. Chapman has been vocal about the need for stronger legal tools to fight this problem.
He has advocated for stricter scrap metal laws that would make it harder for thieves to sell stolen copper and equipment to recyclers and salvage yards. He has also pushed for increased funding for surveillance technology, including cameras and licence-plate readers, to monitor the vast construction sites that dot the Loudoun County landscape.
From Fairfax to the front lines of AI crime
Chapman’s path to this unusual frontline did not begin with data centres. He previously served as a deputy sheriff in neighbouring Fairfax County, one of the largest sheriff’s offices in Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Virginia, a credential that reflects a career spent thinking systematically about law enforcement and public safety.
When he took office in Loudoun County in 2016, the data centre boom was already underway, but the scale of what was coming was not yet clear. Today, the county is home to more than 200 data centres, with dozens more in various stages of planning and construction.
The thefts have become a serious enough problem that they now command the attention of the sheriff’s office at the highest level. For Chapman, the issue is not just about property crime — it is about protecting the economic engine that employs thousands of people in his county and supports millions more around the world. As the world watches the United States race to build out its AI infrastructure, the work of a Virginia sheriff may seem like a small piece of a much larger puzzle.
But for the developers, the investors, and the communities who depend on these projects coming online on time, the task force’s 12 arrests and $2 million in recoveries represent real progress — and a warning to organised thieves that Loudoun County is no longer an easy target.
