Last Friday, police in Paterson, N.J., charged two homeless men with 80 counts of burglary, theft and criminal mischief in connection to 15 cell tower equipment thefts. Every major carrier was hit by the thefts, with towers from AT&T Mobility, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US all being affected. According to Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale, more than $125,000 worth of damage was caused between all of the thefts and burglaries.
These weren’t just any run-of-the-mill homeless burglars, however. The main suspect was Christopher O’Connell, a 37-year-old man from Georgia who previously worked as a subcontractor for the tower industry. The man used his previous experience with towers to commit the crimes. O’Connell was aided by Michael Mazziote, a 20-year-old from Connecticut. In addition to the crimes listed above, Mazziote was also charged with possession of burglary tools.
This is only the latest tower equipment theft in the New England area over the past year, with what seemed like a crime spree occurring back in April when three different sets of criminals tore across New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Copper wires, batteries and other tower equipment was stolen, as well as extensive damage done to several towers, including severed cables and damaged property. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of these crimes is that when caught, one of the criminals had a list of every tower they had burglarized in his pocket, saving the police any amount of guesswork. Sprint, T-Mobile US and Verizon Wireless were the carriers most affected by that crime spree, but Crown Castle and MetroPCS towers also suffered damage.
In July, cell tower battery thefts was reported in Illinois and Ohio. In the month previous,three people were arrested in connection with thefts from cell towers in both North Carolina and South Carolina; in that case $150,000 worth of cell tower materials were stolen and destroyed.
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