Cable, home phone, and internet provider Spectrum is working with local police after its optic lines were severed in an act of alleged “criminal vandalism” that caused a widespread outage for customers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties on June 15, the company has confirmed.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Spectrum spokeswoman Pamela Hoeft told The Epoch Times on Monday. “We’re working with LAPD on that.”
A small number of people were still affected by the outage on June 16, but a vast majority of the service had been restored, she said.
On Sunday, more than 25,000 customers reported an outage on DownDetector.com, a website that tracks utility outages.
The company responded at about 2:15 p.m. Sunday by posting on social media platform X, telling customers it was “currently working on a Fiber cut affecting the Los Angeles area.”
Spectrum is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to an arrest in Sunday’s incident and encourages anyone with information to contact them at 833-404-TIPS.
The company is also giving a full day credit to customers whose service was impacted by Sunday’s vandalism.
“The credit will appear on their next bill, and no action is required by the customer,” according to a statement published by Spectrum on Sunday.
The company brought in extra crews to repair the damage and restored services overnight and on Monday morning.
Spectrum stated criminal acts of network vandalism have affected the entire telecommunications industry—not just its company—because of the increased price of precious metals.
“These acts of vandalism are not only a crime, but also affect our customers, local businesses, and potentially emergency services,” Spectrum stated.
The company emphasized that its fiber lines do not include any copper. Wire theft to obtain copper has been a significant problem in recent years in the Los Angeles area and throughout the state.
Pedestrians pass a vandalized high-voltage electric box on the 6th Street Viaduct in Los Angeles, on aug. 27, 2024. (The Canadian Press/AP-Damian Dovarganes)
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on June 5 that he joined a roundtable discussion about the issue with law enforcement, business leaders, schools, utilities, and elected officials.
“My office won’t tolerate anyone vandalizing critical infrastructure and endangering our communities to make a buck off of stolen copper,” Bonta said in a statement.
He said California can expect to continue to be a target of theft and vandalism, unless officials step in and do something about it.
According to the attorney general’s office. California has seen an increase in copper wire thefts, leaving neighborhoods in the dark and resulting in telecommunication and utility outages that impact businesses and agricultural operations. It also threatens public safety, according to the attorney general.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks in Los Angeles on April 15, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
Between June and December 2024, the telecom industry reported nearly 6,000 incidents of copper theft and infrastructure vandalism nationwide. Bonta said toughly one-third—or 1,805—of those incidents happened in California.
Criminals steal encased copper cables and cut them into short lengths before burning them to remove the sheathing and reveal the raw copper inside. That copper is then usually sold to scrap metal dealers, some of whom accept the valuable metal without asking where it came from, according to Bonta’s office.
“The ripple effect of each act of vandalism, each cable cut, is massive,” Bonta’s office stated in a release.
The sectors affected are public safety, health care, energy, transportation, financial systems, IT, education, and more.
