Belfair man, out on bail, accused of cutting fiber lines in Gorst, causing internet outages
A 44-year-old Belfair man is accused of cutting Kitsap Public Utility District fiber optic lines in Gorst, which resulted in internet outages to “emergency services, the Navy base, cell phone towers and residences north of Gorst” for more than six hours on Saturday, according to court documents.
A KPUD employee estimated to an investigator that the approximate value of the damage could be more than $50,000.
The Belfair man was arrested near the site of the damaged lines in Gorst and charged Tuesday with a count of first-degree malicious mischief in Kitsap County Superior Court. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, and his bail was set at $5,000. Kitsap County Jail records listed the man as in custody Wednesday afternoon.
The man was charged last year with a count of second-degree burglary for a break-in at a Silverdale building and posted his $10,000 bail using a bail bond company earlier this month, according to court records.
A Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy was brought to the site of the damaged fiber optic lines off Solid Lane in Gorst Saturday after the KPUD employee reported what he believed to be a stolen vehicle on Puget Sound Energy property, according to court documents.
The KPUD employee was at the site repairing fiber optic lines that had been cut, which caused the internet outage. He told the deputy that a pile of garbage had been found near a power pole KPUD staff were working on. In the garbage, the deputy found a small burn pile and wire.
“I know from prior experience that drug addicts and wire thieves will burn the wiring to get the sheathing off the wire to scrap the wire at a scrap yard,” the deputy wrote in a report.
The deputy found the vehicle a short distance away, stuck in some mud, as well as a large pile of wires and other metal items around, under and inside the vehicle, and the Belfair man, who said a friend got the vehicle stuck. The man denied cutting the fiber optic lines.
Tracks for the vehicle extended back to the power pole.
“(The KPUD employee) explained to me that when this type of thing happens, suspects cut into the line, determine there is no copper in the line and leave it,” the deputy wrote.
A search warrant was granted for the vehicle, and investigators seized a Sawzall, a pair of loppers, a pair of cutters, a padlock that had been cut by bolt cutters and a receipt from Navy City Metals for the sale of scrap metal dated Feb. 17.
The KPUD employee told the deputy that the fiber optic line was “most likely cut by the Sawzall in the backseat of the vehicle or possibly the loppers that were also in the back seat,” the deputy wrote. “I know wire thieves will typically have those types of construction items with them to cut through wires or other construction materials to get to wire.”
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Belfair man accused accused of cutting fiber lines in Gorst
