ELKTON, Md. — Copper wire thefts are surging in Cecil County, repeatedly knocking out phone and internet service as police and telecommunications companies try to keep pace with a crime they say is becoming increasingly frequent.
For Carol Wohner, it's happened before.
In June of last year, thieves cut and stole copper lines serving her area, leaving her family without phone and internet service for weeks. Late August, she woke up to find her landline wasn't working again.
"We woke up Sunday morning and I noticed that I had no use line," Wohner said.
It wasn't a storm or scheduled outage. Verizon said a main copper cable in Elkton had been cut and stolen.
The Wohners were initially told it could take weeks to restore their service.
"We said let's call Mallory, so that's what we did," Wohner said. "This happens 2, 3, 4 times a year."
Verizon sent a crew out the following day and the Wohners were reconnected. But Wohner wants a permanent solution.
"I like my landline. I want to keep my landline," Wohner said. "They have to figure out a way to keep these guys from stealing the copper."
Cecil County thefts climb
Verizon says Cecil County is the most impacted area in Maryland for this type of theft, and new numbers from Maryland State Police show how quickly the problem is growing.
"Last year, we had approximately 51 cases of theft involving Verizon telephone wire. This year, we've had approximately 78, and we believe the correlation is from the rising price of copper," Cpl. Frank Donald with the Maryland State Police Criminal Enforcement Division said.
State police have dedicated additional resources to the crimes and say 17 people have been arrested since last year.
Still, Donald said investigators are dealing with cases almost constantly.
"Pretty much daily. It feels like almost daily," Donald said.
Police say the cases can be solved and successfully prosecuted, but the sheer frequency presents a challenge.
"We're out here every day and we're working these cases pretty often," Donald said.
The impact can be particularly significant in rural parts of Cecil County, where police say many families still rely heavily on landlines.
Verizon is already transitioning its network away from copper and toward fiber optic cable, which the company considers more resilient than its older copper technology.
But fiber doesn't necessarily stop the vandalism.
"The problem is the thieves and the people, the vandals that are doing this, don't really understand the difference between a fiber cable and a copper cable," said Leo Perreault, Verizon's vice president of Access Engineering and Operations of the Atlantic South.
Perreault said thieves are sometimes cutting fiber optic cables believing they contain copper.
And repairing either type of cable can be labor intensive.
"In a copper cable, you're talking about putting hundreds of little pieces of copper back together, and in fiber you're talking about splicing hair-like size fibers back together," Perreault said.
Depending on the damage, crews may first have to source replacement cable, obtain permits, block traffic or bring in construction equipment before splicing can even begin.
A growing national problem
The problem extends well beyond Maryland.
Perreault said network vandalism and copper theft have impacted more than 9.5 million subscribers nationwide across the telecommunications industry.
Verizon alone, he said, experienced close to 600 incidents over a recent 30-day period.
The company says it is fighting the thefts on several fronts. Verizon has added physical barriers such as fencing and cages around equipment, is using security technology it won't publicly detail and is working with law enforcement in areas experiencing spikes in theft.
The company has also offered a $25,000 reward in the Los Angeles area for information leading to arrests and prosecutions related to network vandalism. Perreault told WMAR-2 News that rewards are something Verizon could consider in other markets where warranted.
The cost goes beyond stolen copper
Thieves may be after the scrap value of copper, but the damage they leave behind can be far more expensive.
Perreault described incidents in which thieves have targeted cell sites and stripped copper and other valuable materials from equipment.
"We have situations where a cell site might have been impacted and they gutted the air conditioning system that feeds, that cools the equipment in a cell site," Perreault said. "It's tens of thousands of dollars by the time you start looking at this to get that repaired."
The consequences can also extend beyond repair costs. Verizon says damaged telecommunications infrastructure can disrupt businesses and, depending on the infrastructure affected, potentially interfere with access to critical communications.
Verizon is also pushing for tougher laws addressing attacks on telecommunications infrastructure, arguing the consequences can be far greater than the value of the material stolen.
Maryland State Police told WMAR-2 News suspects in Cecil County cases have been charged with felonies and that investigators continue to develop leads and identify additional suspects.
Police are asking residents to report suspicious activity around telecommunications infrastructure, particularly activity occurring overnight. Donald said hearing power tools being used near telephone lines is one example of something residents should report.
Wohner, meanwhile, has some lower-tech deterrence ideas of her own.
"Put a sign up that says, 'Smile, you're on camera,' even if they're not on camera," she said.
For her, the goal is simple: keep the service she relies on from being knocked out yet again.