Really, really strange local incident (Northern VA)

[LittleLebowski]

There’s this commuter lot near 66, heavily used of course. It’s smack next to a Verizon cell tower. Now, for weeks or months, the tower wasn’t working for local cell users. So, Verizon finally sent a dude with some sort of scanner and found a vehicle left on for 8 hours with a device that was some sort of transmitter. They got LE involved, turns out it was a heavy duty cell signal jammer, in the messed up Subaru of what was described to me personally by a state trooper as “all ANTIFA and weird looking”.

Interesting note, the dude was working a hard full time construction job and running that jammer every day for weeks.

Maybe this is normal for some of you, I thought it was a little weird.

[FNFAN]

I'm really surprised they could jam an entire cell tower signal. I do know that there has been a proliferation of cell jammers available on the 'dark web' and used by tech savvy burglars.

"Thieves using cellular and Wi-Fi jammers to enter homes for robbery" Link (https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2024/02/29/thieves-using-wifi-jammer/72758559007/)

[Shotgun]

Very strange. It would be interesting to know what he hoped to accomplish, or prevent, by that action.

[HCM]

I wonder if this was to somehow facilitate another crime or if it was ideological.

There is an anti 5G conspiracy ideology which includes violent extremism.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/federal-judge-sentences-san-antonio-cell-tower-arsonist-78-months-prison

Federal Judge Sentences San Antonio Cell Tower Arsonist to 78 Months in Prison




SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man was sentenced yesterday in a federal court in San Antonio to six and a half years in prison for felon in possession of a firearm and arson affecting interstate and foreign commerce.

According to court documents, Sean Aaron Smith, 30, maliciously attempted to damage and destroy, by means of fire, multiple cellular telephone towers around San Antonio between April 2021 and May 2022.

Smith was arrested in a traffic stop on May 13, 2022. During the traffic stop, law enforcement officers located a handgun on the floorboard in front of the driver’s seat. Executing a search warrant for Smith’s apartment on May 15, 2022, investigators found additional firearms. Smith knowingly possessed the firearms after being previously convicted of two felony crimes where he served more than a year imprisonment on each. Smith pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, 2023 to six counts of arson of cellphone towers and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm.

“My office will not tolerate attacks on our critical infrastructure seeking to shut down our cellular telephone system and endangering our citizens who need to use our 911 emergency systems,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas.

“An attack on the infrastructure of a community has the potential for devastating effects,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson for the FBI San Antonio Division. “Sean Smith tried multiple times to burn cell phone towers down around San Antonio, in support of his anti-5G ideology. When he was caught, he had a handgun in his vehicle, despite his status as a convicted felon. We want to thank the San Antonio Fire Department Arson squad, FBI, San Antonio Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas Rangers for their continued assistance in keeping our communities safe.”

The San Antonio Fire Department Arson Squad, FBI, San Antonio Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas Rangers investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg prosecuted the case.



https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116272/documents/HHRG-118-JU00-20230726-SD009.pdf

[GJM]

Things are much easier out west in Wyoming. There it would not be nefarious and likely have something to do with cattle, horses, elk, deer or maybe even sheep.

[LittleLebowski]

Things are much easier out west in Wyoming. There it would not be nefarious and likely have something to do with cattle, horses, elk, deer or maybe even sheep.

Listen here AK liberal, I thought we had achieved a detente on the sheep thing 😁

Oh yeah, 37 days and wheels up.


https://youtu.be/ZmXD_DKNuEs

[HeavyDuty]

I'm really surprised they could jam an entire cell tower signal. I do know that there has been a proliferation of cell jammers available on the 'dark web' and used by tech savvy burglars.

"Thieves using cellular and Wi-Fi jammers to enter homes for robbery" Link (https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2024/02/29/thieves-using-wifi-jammer/72758559007/)

Jamming a receiver isn’t hard. You can probably take out a tower with 10 watts - all you have to do is make it so the tower can’t hear lower powered signals.

[4RNR]

Maybe he just has a thing for Verizon? They've always seemed to be the HK of Communications Companies

[Dave Williams]

He's being criminally charged?

[mtnbkr]

There’s this commuter lot near 66, heavily used of course. It’s smack next to a Verizon cell tower. Now, for weeks or months, the tower wasn’t working for local cell users. So, Verizon finally sent a dude with some sort of scanner and found a vehicle left on for 8 hours with a device that was some sort of transmitter. They got LE involved, turns out it was a heavy duty cell signal jammer, in the messed up Subaru of what was described to me personally by a state trooper as “all ANTIFA and weird looking”.

Interesting note, the dude was working a hard full time construction job and running that jammer every day for weeks.

Maybe this is normal for some of you, I thought it was a little weird.

Huh, so that's what happened out there. My gym is nearby (I can see the lot from the 2nd floor windows) and I had to go the long way to get there yesterday. My daughter works at that gym and had to find an alternate route when she had to be at work later that afternoon as well.

I haven't noticed any issues with my phone while at the gym though. I don't use the Gym's wifi and rely on my VZ data for streaming music and such while working out.

Chris

[mtnbkr]

Jamming a receiver isn’t hard. You can probably take out a tower with 10 watts - all you have to do is make it so the tower can’t hear lower powered signals.

Yup. Phones themselves don't have much power. I don't know how much power a cell tower has, but the phones would definitely be impacted by a low power signal.

Chris

[LittleLebowski]

He's being criminally charged?

I don't know.

[ragnar_d]

A similar story happened about the time I was exiting Florida for Alabama back in 2014 or so. The TLDR version is that a dude got pissed about all the distracted drivers around him and rigged up a jammer in his car and went about his commute, eventually MetroPCS noticed a tower went down 2x a day on I-4, eventually the cops honed in on this guy and figured it out when they pulled him over and the radios lost signal when the officers walked up to his car.

https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/1/5672762/man-faces-48000-fine-for-driving-with-cellphone-jammer

https://www.pcmag.com/news/fla-man-fined-48k-for-jamming-cell-signals-while-driving