The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has seen thefts of cables and other items belonging to communication companies rise since the start of summer. Investigators believe many of the thefts are being done by either the same person or same group of people, spokesman Grant Bissell said.
The thefts of cables, wires and other items belonging to companies such as AT&T, Charter and Verizon started to increase in June when 10 thefts were reported. In most cases, cables and wires were cut from utility poles, but cables, wires and batteries have been reported stolen from control boxes as well, according to Sheriff’s Office reports.
Bissell said in July, there were 12 reports of cables or wires being stolen, and in August, those reports increased to 14. He said as of Sept. 25, the Sheriff’s Office had investigated 16 stealing reports in September after cable, wire or batteries had been stolen.
Bissell said from January through May there were 10 reports of stolen cables or wires from communication companies.
The latest rash of thefts occurred between Sept 10-20 with five stealing reports from the De Soto, Dittmer, Imperial and Festus areas, according to reports.
On Sept. 16, the Sheriff’s Office was called to investigate theft of about 150 feet of cable that belonged to AT&T. The cable was cut from utility poles between about 6 p.m. Sept. 10 and 6 a.m. Sept. 11 in the 14200 block of Hwy. E south of De Soto, the report said.
There were two reported thefts involving communication companies’ property on Sept. 19.
The Sheriff’s Office was called at about 6:40 a.m. that day to the 3700 block of East Dry Fork Road in Imperial after Charter was notified about outages in the area. Three batteries were stolen from a control box, according to the report.
Deputies were called to the 8900 block of Hwy. 30 in Dittmer on Sept. 19 after outages were reported in the area at about 1:30 p.m. Sept. 18. Approximately 60 feet of wire was stolen from a Verizon tower that was surrounded by a fence, that had no signs of damage, the report said.
On Sept. 20, the Sheriff’s Office was called about two more AT&T cable thefts after customers had started reporting outages the day before.
Approximately 200 of cable had been cut from utility poles in the 1700 block of Plattin Road south of Festus. Customers in the area had reported outages starting at about 8 p.m. Sept. 19, the report said.
The Sheriff’s Office also discovered approximately 200 feet of cable was cut from utility poles in the 13900 block of Hwy. E south of De Soto. AT&T telephone customers had started reporting outages in that area at about 1:30 p.m. Sept. 19, according to the report.
The Sheriff’s Office did not report approximate values for the stolen cable or batteries.
Bissell said as of Oct. 2, the Sheriff's Office has identified between two to three groups of people who are suspected of being responsible for multiple cable thefts in the county. He asks anyone with information about the thefts to call the Sheriff’s Office at 636-797-5515.