CABLE-THEFT BOXES FLATTENED FORMER USERS OF 3,000 DEVICES PAYING $2.2 MILLION IN FINES.Byline: Amy Raisin raisin, in botany and cooking raisin, dried fruit of certain varieties of grapevines bearing grapes with a high content of sugar and solid flesh. Although the fruit is sometimes artificially dehydrated, it is usually sun-dried. Staff Writer NEWHALL - Thousands of illegal black boxes, crunched under a double-barreled steamroller Tuesday in Newhall, represented just a small portion of the devices being used in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County to pirate cable television, authorities said. That small portion - about 3,000 boxes - translates to an estimated $2.2 million in fines being collected by cable company AT&T Broadband, which sponsored the steamroller event. ``The average settlement is $2,500,'' Mike Bates, senior director of security for the cable company, said about the fines. ``We've already collected many of the fines, but some of the consumers are on a payment plan, while others pay in lump sums.'' How, many ask, do the cable providers locate and confiscate To expropriate private property for public use without compensating the owner under the authority of the Police Power of the government. To seize property. When property is confiscated it is transferred from private to public use, usually for reasons such as the illegal boxes? Bates Bates , Katherine Lee 1859-1929. American educator and writer best known for her poem "America the Beautiful," written in 1893 and revised in 1904 and 1911. said most are found through a special hotline. ``The most common way is our service tip hotline, where consumers call in and report their neighbors,'' Bates said. ``But there are electronic means that we have at our disposal that detect the use of these illegal devices.'' AT&T Broadband security officials have worked with various law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). to crack down on cable piracy in the last year. Capt. Don Rodriguez of the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. sheriff's station attended Tuesday's cable-box crunch and spoke about the risks of using an illegal device. ``Too many people don't realize that this is actually a crime,'' he said. ``What (people) are doing is stealing. We as consumers are forced to pay higher costs for our cable services.'' Rodriguez and his deputies have worked with the cable company's investigators and helped obtain search warrants. Last year, deputies arrested a local man who was later charged with manufacturing and selling black boxes illegally. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. investigators, the suspect had purchased a newspaper advertisement to hawk the illegal devices. Surrounded by mountains that interrupt signals, most of the Santa Clarita Valley gets no television reception without cable, satellite or other services. ``There are some areas that don't have that (reception) problem, but it is a geographical issue in the valley,'' said Patti Rockenwagner, executive director for corporate communications Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. for AT&T Broadband. ``Some domiciles just don't get the reception without the cable hookup hookup, n in the Trager method of therapy, the practitioner enters into a meditative state along with the patient, which allows him or her to work more intuitively and to feel subtle changes in the patient's movement and tissue texture. .'' A steamroller operator demolished about 50 boxes at a time Tuesday at the event behind AT&T Broadband's Newhall offices. Just a few feet from the steamroller sat a massive pile of black boxes stacked about 10 high and 30 deep. ``We do this now and then,'' Bates said. ``These evidence rooms needed to be purged.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) In Newhall, Ramone Bulido drives a bulldozer Tuesday over some illegal cable boxes seized in a crackdown on cable-TV piracy. (2 -- color) Another batch is flattened Tuesday in the destruction of 3,000 illegal cable-TV boxes whose former users have been fined. David R. Crane/Staff Photographer |
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