2 SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN CABLE SCHEME; CUSTOMER LIST SEIZED IN PROBE.Byline: Howard Breuer Staff Writer Sheriff's deputies recovered 500 stolen and illegally-converted cable TV boxes Friday and arrested two brothers suspected of selling them nationwide. And a Time-Warner Communications official who tipped the Sheriff's Department about the boxes said he obtained a long list of customers who purchased them and he intends to share it with cable providers. Illegal black-box users generally pay about $10 for basic service and use the devices to unscramble Same as decrypt. See scramble. channels available only to those paying higher rates, said Robert Thoreson, Time-Warner's director of security. ``For the most part, these are people on the higher-income side,'' Thoreson said. ``A person struggling on minimum wage doesn't pop off $400 for a black box.'' If caught, they face felony charges and steep fines, authorities said. Thoreson alerted the Sheriff's Department after an employee bought one of the cable boxes, prompting a two-month investigation. Bau Nguyen, 50, and Joseph Nguyen, 35, were arrested Friday on suspicion of receiving stolen property and pirating cable equipment, sheriff's Lt. Mike O'Brien said. Investigators suspect the men were doing business as Vegastronics and VGS VGS Videregående Skole (Norwegian school) VGS Virtual Game Station VGS Voodoo Glow Skulls (Ska band) VGS Video Game System VGS Volunteer Gliding School VGS Voltage Gate to Source VGS Velocity Gate Stealer Electronics. Deputies arrested Bau Nguyen around 9 a.m. after serving a search warrant in the 2100 block of Los Amigos AMIGOS Advanced Mobile Integration in General Operating Systems Street in La Canada Flintridge. The house, in an upscale neighborhood, is suspected of being the hub of the business. Deputies recovered about 400 boxes, O'Brien said. The older brother, who police believe handled the marketing and distribution, refused to talk to investigators, O'Brien said. However, they found information that led them to Joseph Nguyen, 35, in the 1300 block of Del Mar Del Mar is the name of several places in the United States of America:
Deputies arrested the younger brother Wiki is aware of the following uses of "'Younger Brother":
tr.v. de·scram·bled, de·scram·bling, de·scram·bles To unscramble (a coded message or signal, for example). all channels, O'Brien said. Both men were booked at the sheriff's Crescenta Valley station and held in lieu of $500,000 bail pending arraignment A criminal proceeding at which the defendant is officially called before a court of competent jurisdiction, informed of the offense charged in the complaint, information, indictment, or other charging document, and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or as otherwise permitted next week, O'Brien said. O'Brien said it's the honest paying customers who suffer from illegal use of cable television. ``The cable company is charging people like you and me more, because people are stealing the cable,'' he said. Officials said efforts would be made to return the boxes to the companies from which they were stolen. |
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