In an increasingly connected world, the U.S. communications infrastructure serves as the backbone of national security, economic stability, and daily life. Yet, this critical network faces escalating threats from theft and vandalism, jeopardizing essential services and public safety. To combat it, four industry associations have released a white paper entitled: Protecting the Nation’s Critical Communications Infrastructure from Theft & Vandalism. …
Copper Clowns: Faux AT&T workers’ scheme fizzles out at Minnesota WISP’s tower site
Two men from Minnesota unsuccessfully posed as AT&T employees and burglarized a communications tower site outside Little Falls in pursuit of valuable copper wiring. Although the theft was carefully planned, the suspects failed to list on their arrest hazard analysis to be aware of any surveillance cameras. Charged with burglary, possessing burglary tools, and illicit drug possession in Morrison County …
Deputies bust dad on his bring your son to work day at tower site; multi-site copper thief gets probation
Two North Carolina men, a father and son team, are facing criminal charges after being accused of stealing transmission lines from a cell site tower in eastern Richmond County for their copper value. According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) press statement released on March 4, 2024, deputies responded to a call about the cutting and theft of copper …
Four faux T-Mobile contractors arrested after caught in the act of ripping off ‘3G’ cables
A brazen communications cable theft at a West Boylston, Massachusetts, cell tower on Friday afternoon led to the arrest of four New York men accused of posing as subcontractors to steal the cables for their scrap value. The incident, which highlights a troubling trend of cell tower transmission line thefts across New England, unfolded when local police responded to an …
North Carolina copper theft suspect’s spree against AT&T ended in December but charges keep coming in
A 36-year-old Balsam Grove, North Carolina man facing 47 charges in Henderson County, North Carolina, also faces eight more charges in Buncombe County as investigators look into incidents of coaxial cable theft from cell towers. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office announced last week that Vincent DePaul was accused of stealing transmission lines from cell phone towers. After a month-long investigation, …
Sabotage for copper: Vandals bring down a 500-foot tower in Oklahoma, costing $500,000 in damages
Update: January 18, 2024 – Within two days after a 500-foot broadcast tower was sabotaged in Hugo, Oklahoma in order to strip the felled sections of coaxial lines for their copper, two Choctaw County residents have been arrested in connection to the incident, according to Choctaw County Sheriff Terry Park. Park said that the arrests were through the joint efforts …
Thieves find it more profitable in India to steal the entire cell site instead of stripping cable
Thieves normally specialize in stealing batteries or transmission lines at communications sites in the U.S., but in an incident in India, thieves went for the full monty, stealing the entire cell site. The theft occurred last March but wasn’t reported to authorities until last week in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi district, where a cell tower, standing at 165 feet and weighing …
Delusional ‘Postmaster General’ serial coax thief Douglas Lee arrested again in North Carolina
In August, Yadkin County NC Sheriff’s Office investigators received a report that someone had climbed a tower in East Bend and cut off several hundred feet of coaxial cable that would likely be sold to a scrap metal firm. In October, another Yadkin County theft of copper cable was reported in Yadkinville. Detectives, with the assistance of AT&T Mobility Services, …
North Carolina ring of cell site copper thieves arrested after lengthy investigation
The Buncombe County North Carolina Sheriff’s Office has charged 12 people in a cell site transmission line copper theft ring after a lengthy investigation, authorities said on March 30. The damage was estimated to be worth $331,000. Buncombe County detectives as well as the McDowell County and Mitchell County Sheriff’s offices worked for weeks to investigate and arrest the suspects, a press …
Spike strips stop Texas cell tower copper stripper
A Buda, Texas man who led multiple law enforcement agencies on a high-speed chase through Robertson and Leon Counties in Texas last week remains in custody in the Robertson County jail until he can post a $115,000 bond. He is also being sought by Fremont County, Colorado Sheriff’s officials for a dangerous drugs charge. Travis William Barton, 38, is charged …
Third copper thief in a gang of five pleads guilty of stripping 80-plus towers
An Illinois man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge accusing him of shutting down power to more than 80 cellphone towers across Missouri and Illinois to steal copper from the sites. He was arrested in Pike County, Missouri when a County Sheriff’s Office deputy saw the lights go out on a guyed tower near Eolia, and was indicted on …
Five indicted for stealing copper wire from 80 cell towers
Christina Weaver, 40, of Collinsville, IL; Wendell Ragsdale, 45, of Springfield, IL; Bradley Quinelle Warren, 32, of Collinsville, IL; Taylor D. James, 20, of Collinsville, IL; and Haley S. James, 21, of Collinsville, IL; were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to maliciously interfere with communication lines by entering onto cellular tower sites. According to the Indictment, between April 3, …
One copper thief dead, one critical after Oklahoma AM transmitter site electrocution
UPDATE: August 5, 2019 -Tulsa County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a woman in connection to the electrocution of a man at a radio tower near Sand Springs on Sunday. Angie West, 37, was booked into the Tulsa County jail Sunday night on a complaint of first-degree murder. Prosecutors charged her today only with one count of entering with intent to …
Cell tower copper thief drowns in the Savannah River while trying to elude police
Rather than risking jail time, a Georgia man tried to elude police and drowned after he allegedly stole copper from a cell tower in South Carolina The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call about 7 a.m. on Monday about a suspicious vehicle near the cell tower off of Purrysburg Rd. in Hardeeville. Sheriff’s officers spotted 31-year-old Maurice …
Tower copper thief chased, tackled and hogtied by business owners
Tower owner Crown Castle and its tenants can thank three Washington men for stopping a copper theft in progress when they observed a suspect stealing wire from a monopole compound and kept the destruction at a minimum According to police, a Maryville business owner had been experiencing a raft of burglaries, theft and vandalism, and had workers patrol the perimeter …
“Simply trying to make a living,” couple is arrested for cell site copper thefts
Bossier Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested a Texas couple in early April for stealing copper from cell phone tower sites in Bossier Parish, La., but the case continues as charges are pending from neighboring parishes, and detectives are working with five other counties in Okla. regarding the same crimes involving this duo. According to a department press release, Charles Krupnik, 51, …
Three tower techs arrested while working on their day off at an American Tower site
Three tower technicians were arrested Wednesday in Wauchula, Fla., about three hours away from their Pompano Beach-based wireless construction company, MC Communications, Inc., when an alert American Tower Corporation employee found them stripping coaxial cable from his company’s guy tower. According to the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office, the American Tower tech arrived at the site located eight miles east of …
