Some area scrap yards are under investigation for possibly taking part in illegal scrapping. 

The Flint city council wants to know why these yards have been buying stolen materials, some of which belong to the city.

In one Flint neighborhood full of burned down homes, scrappers usually comb through the ashes and collect precious metals.

Flint resident Damian Ayala says, "The house will just be getting put out and they'll be pulling up right when the fire truck leaves just to throw the scrap and they already know the house was on fire and everything."

But the practice is illegal. 

Thieves are even going a step further lately by stealing man hole covers, and copper from sub-stations and selling it for cash.

City councilman Sheldon Neeley says, "Consumer power (Energy) has been hit several times putting tens of thousands of people out of power for several hours."

Neeley wants to know why area scrap yards are buying stolen metals. He says many of the manhole covers sold actually have 'City of Flint' stamped on them, yet the yards continue to buy them.

Neeley continues, "Some of the scrap yards in the city of flint are known to have illegal property, property that's been stolen from the city of Flint."

A full investigation is now underway. 

Both J & S and Spooner Metals declined our requests for interviews but councilman Neeley says he is looking to crackdown on illegal scrapping saying, "This community cannot have businesses forming illegal activity inside the boundaries of the city of Flint."