'Domestic Terrorism' To Blame For Vandalism Of LA County Internet Cables, Charter Says | Los Angeles, CA Patch

LOS ANGELES, CA — After 13 Charter Communications cables in Los Angeles were cut last month, the company is calling for the person or people responsible for the vandalism to be prosecuted as domestic terrorists.

In the early morning of June 15, over a dozen of Charter's fiber lines were cut in Van Nuys, knocking out internet service to some 50,000 residential customers and 500 businesses in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. In some cases, customers were without internet for 30 hours, according to Charter.

Following the incident, Charter blamed the theft on a person or people unsuccessfully attempting to steal copper wire (the cable in question contained none of the valuable metal).

"After further investigation, we have called this an act of domestic terrorism based on the nature and extent of the damage to our critical infrastructure and the overall makeup of the impacted customers including: emergency services, military, police and fire, financial institutions, court buildings, health care and hospitals, educational institutions and cell towers providing mobile service," Charter spokesperson Cameron Blanchard told Patch on Tuesday.

Company leaders are calling on federal and state lawmakers to classify such act as felonies and for the protection of those who commit such crimes.

"These criminal attacks on our country's vital communications networks are intentional and cause outages that put lives at risk," Charter President and CEO Chris Winfrey said. "This is a pervasive and persistent threat to American families and businesses across the country that cannot be tolerated, and such life-threatening events should be declared acts of domestic terrorism and prosecuted accordingly."

Los Angeles City Councilman John Lee said "the rise in deliberate attacks on critical communications infrastructure poses a significant threat to national security, with resulting outages impacting military bases and emergency services while imposing substantial financial burdens on taxpayers and local governments. These disruptions divert crucial resources and have far-reaching consequences.

"Safeguarding our communications infrastructure is vital for creating safe, resilient communities, and we call on everyone to stay alert, take proactive measures, and swiftly report any incidents related to this widespread issue."

Between June and December 2024, the telecommunications industry suffered nearly 6,000 intentional infrastructure attacks, putting access to life-saving public resources at risk for more than 1.5 million American families and businesses, according to Charter.

The company is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information related to infrastructure attacks that leads to an arrest. Those with information can contact Spectrum at 833-404-8477 or local law enforcement.

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