JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — 9 persons are behind bars after deputies in Jacksonville stated they had been capable of unravel their large-scale scheme to steal fiber-optic cables and strip them of their copper content material.
The group, consisting of eight males and one girl, would pose as utility employees to not increase any suspicions whereas they made off with the cables used to supply folks with high-speed web entry, investigators stated.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Workplace stated deputies started working to “lower the twine” on the group’s scheme in October.
It started with simply 5 arrests, however deputies quickly realized this was a a lot bigger operation.
Surveillance video, witness statements and recycling data helped hyperlink these suspects, together with 4 different folks, to a complete of 15 reported thefts.
The final 4 had been “caught red-handed” throughout one other tried theft, the sheriff’s workplace stated.
In line with detectives, the thefts had been reported all through Jacksonville and Bradford County, with a number of instruments, items of stolen copper and even medicine situated throughout the investigation.
Authorities imagine Archie Criminal was the “ringleader” of the group. The opposite suspects within the case embody Steven Midyette, Van Arnold, Darrick Rhoden, Terry Thompson, Donald Tyre, Corttney Kowalski, James Bennett, and Leslie Bennett.
Officers stated residents who’ve had their fiber-optic cables stolen not solely threat dropping their high-speed web entry however typically need to foot the invoice when utility firms come out to exchange the cables.
“An enormous because of our companions on the Bradford County Sheriff’s Workplace and Lawyer Basic Uthmeier’s Workplace of Statewide Prosecution for serving to us pull the plug on this operation,” the sheriff’s workplace wrote in a social media post saying the arrests.
