A burglar and would-be scrapper was caught inside a vacant house Tuesday afternoon, Butler police said.

The suspect, David E. Baker, 48, of Butler, was well on his way to stripping the basement of copper piping and electrical wires at the home on Virginia Avenue when officers nabbed him shortly before 3 p.m., investigators said.

“(Baker) planned to take the wires and copper and scrap them for money,” according to a police report.

Police believe Baker in October targeted a different vacant house in the city, stealing pipes that he later swapped for cash.

Alert neighbors were on their front porch about 2:40 p.m. Tuesday when they noticed a man, later identified as Baker, go into a side door at the vacant house in the 300 block of Virginia Avenue.

The neighbors called police. Officers got there and saw Baker through a window in the basement. They ordered him out and arrested him, police said.

The officers searched the basement and discovered a large pile of wires, several pieces of copper pipe, and an electrical box and breakers on the floor.

On the ceiling, a large piece of pipe was partially ripped away, the report said.

While looking through the basement, the officers found a pipe wrench and hammer that they allege Baker used.

Officers noted that they searched the upper floors of the home but found nothing missing.

Vision Properties of Columbia, S.C., owns the house. Police did not immediately know how long it has been vacant.

Investigators later interviewed Baker, who admitted to the break-in and his money-making motive.

He is charged with burglary and possessing instruments of a crime, and is in Butler County Prison.

It turned out police already had an arrest warrant for Baker in connection with the Oct. 3 break-in of a vacant house in the 100 block of College Street.

Homeowner Dennis Tiche on Nov. 20 reported the suspected burglary after he found a basement door had been forced in and all the copper piping in the house was missing, court documents said. The stolen property was valued at $475.

Tiche told police the house has been vacant for nearly a year.

Officers spoke to a neighbor who recalled seeing Baker going in and out of the house in early October. Another witness, documents said, recalled seeing the defendant at the home “carrying copper pipes wrapped in a towel.”

The investigation eventually led to Bob’s Auto and Salvage yard in Oakland Township, where police suspect Baker sold the stolen property, documents said.

Police on Dec. 10 got the arrest warrant for Baker on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief.