Fergie's Tech Blog

Chelmsford (Mass.) suspect on the hook in cable-cutting case

Jessica Fargen writes in The Boston Herald:

A Chelmsford man allegedly tried to get rich in a snip by cutting Verizon and Comcast phone lines, then tried to get the companies to pay him to stop, prosecutors say.

Danny M. Kelly, 50, was charged yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston with extortion. Prosecutors say he cut at least 18 cables between November 2004, and February 2005, and then turned around and sent extortion letters to Verizon and Comcast.

Reached at home last night, Kelly, a former phone company worker, accused judges of being corrupt and alleged a phone company had once stolen his money.

But he said of the charges "Of course they are not true.''

The anonymous letters asked the companies for $10,000 each month and demanded they set up a Web site to communicate with him, according to court papers.

Investigators say most of the cables were cut in Chelmsford, but others were also disabled in Marlboro, Westford, Billerica and Peabody.

posted by Fergie @ 7/13/2005 06:23:00 AM