- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Reward offered for information in damaged fiber-optic cable case
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – AT&T said Friday that it is offering a reward for information about who is responsible for cutting a fiber-optic line, which resulted in cell phone and some landline service outages across the North Coast.
AT&T told Lake County News that the daylong outage was resolved, with service restored Friday morning for wireline and wireless customers in northwest California affected by a fiber vandalism cut that occurred on Thursday near Ukiah.
“Technicians worked around the clock to repair the damage and service is currently running normally,” the company said. “We are cooperating with law enforcement on an investigation of the matter. We apologize for this inconvenience.”
On Friday AT&T said it is offering up to a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for cutting the fiber-optic line, which the company said was part of an attempted copper theft.
In addition to AT&T, cell phone carriers including T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon separately confirmed to Lake County News that their systems had experienced interruptions in Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma and Humboldt counties as a result of the damaged fiber-optic cable.
The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office – which reported that its 911, landline and cellular telephone services along with its Internet connection throughout the county had been impacted by the outage – is leading the investigation into the matter.
The agency said the above-ground fiber-optic cable that was cut was located a mile and a half south of Burke Hill, near Ukiah.
AT&T encouraged anyone with credible information to call AT&T Asset Protection at 1-800-807-4205. Callers can remain anonymous.
The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office also is seeking information and asking for anyone who knows about the case to call its tip-line at 707-234-2100.
“Tampering with phone networks is a violation of federal and state laws and we cooperate with law enforcement agencies to identify and punish offenders,” AT&T said in a Friday statement. “This is a serious matter that affects public safety and the community at large.”
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