$10,000 offered for Oceanside, Vista cable thief information

OCEANSIDE (CNS) – A reward of up to $10,000 was being offered this week for information leading to the arrest of whomever has been stealing Cox Communications equipment in the Oceanside and Vista areas, as well as in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties.

Cox Communications and law enforcement officials believed that the line extenders, amplifiers, batteries and other telecommunications equipment stolen in North County, Palos Verdes and Goleta were either being sold as scrap metal or to contractors outside of the country, according to Crime Stoppers. Other Southern California companies have also reported equipment theft.

Areas from which the equipment is taken can experience a temporary service outage, which could include a loss of emergency 911 telephone service, officials said.

Anyone with information on the series of thefts was asked to call the sheriff’s department at (619) 956-4000, or to contact Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or via email at sdcrimestoppers.com.