Kelly Marie Pfeiffer is reportedly still in jail after being arrested, along with former tower tech Scott Frederich, for allegedly stripping coax cable from a 160-foot American Tower Corp. monopole in Arnold, MO, pictured above, as well as another site in an adjoining county.
A former tower technician, Scott Anthony Frederich, and his alleged partner-in-crime are facing felony charges in St. Louis and Jefferson Counties, MO, for stealing transmission line cable from two cell tower sites.
Kelly Marie Pfeiffer and Frederich, both of High Ridge, MO, were arrested after deputies uncovered their ruse at the sites. Pfeiffer, 43, was taken into custody by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on May 14 and held on a $2,000 surety bond; Frederich, 38, posted bond and was released on April 4 but remains charged in both Jefferson and St. Louis counties.
Deputies say the pair claimed they were working on a project for Penta Communications of Rahway, N.J., yet neither could produce any work orders, identification, or proof of employment.
Surveillance video from the December 16, 2024, Jefferson County incident shows Frederich stripping roughly $15,000 worth of Boost Mobile fiber and coaxial cable from a 160-foot American Tower monopole in Arnold, while Pfeiffer gathered lengths of wire at ground level.
According to a police report, they gained entry by using a universal padlock code intended only for certified tower crews.
Frederich’s LinkedIn profile lists him as a former Telecommunications Manager at DJL Construction Corp., doing business as Penta Communications. But investigators determined he was not authorized to perform any work at these sites.
On April 3, the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney charged both suspects with a class D felony of stealing—punishable by up to seven years in prison—and on December 27, 2024, St. Louis County added a class E felony count of first-degree property damage, carrying a potential sentence of up to four years in prison.
This is not the first time a former tower technician has exploited insider access to commit felony theft. In November 2020, Kenneth David Voncannon VII—a 32-year-old subcontractor for AT&T and T-Mobile—was arrested in North Carolina for breaking into three cell-tower sites, using employee‐only codes to steal copper transmission lines worth nearly $74,000
And just two months ago, Andres Samuel Contreras, a one-time tower contractor, was indicted for allegedly stripping over 900 backup batteries from 66 T-Mobile sites in Arizona, causing more than $330,000 in damage