Portland police are investigating a series of metal thefts this week that occurred in the Brighton Avenue area, including restaurant equipment, manhole covers and wheels.

Police are investigating the theft of reinforcing steel bars and manhole covers from a construction site at Holmes and Brighton avenues.

Police also are probing the theft of 16 new rims and tires as well as other metal wheel rims worth a total of $12,000 from Hale Trailer at Pine Tree Industrial Way, police said.

Both crimes were reported Tuesday morning and had happened during the previous night, said Portland Lt. Tony Ward.

On Monday, police were told about the theft of more than $10,000 in stainless steel restaurant equipment, including kitchen work stations, as well as metal water heaters from Maine Super Buffet at 1140 Brighton Ave., a restaurant that is undergoing renovations. Someone broke in through the front door some time over the weekend, Ward said.

That theft, like the others, probably required strong burglars and some form of truck to complete the heist, Ward said.

Police have made some headway in combating metal theft.

Last week, police arrested James Brichetto, 34, and Gilbert Wayne, 33, both of Portland, after they were found on Ocean Avenue with wire allegedly stolen from an electrical contractor on Outer Congress Street.

Thieves had earlier stolen eight spools of wire, some of them very large, worth $9,000.

When the men were arrested they had stripped most of the insulation off the wire so it could be sold as hard to identify scrap metal, Ward said.

The men were charged with burglary, aggravated criminal mischief and theft.

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