Copper thieves cut off this SoCal suburb's phones for months and the bills kept coming [View all]

For six months, Hacienda Heights resident Michael Weiner could not get a dial tone on his landline.

He tried to get an answer from his phone company, Frontier Communications, but was told that it was a technical issue. He continued to get billed even though he couldn’t make a call.

Weiner, 79, eventually learned that his service, like the phone lines of many of his neighbors, was interrupted by copper wire thieves who tampered with utility poles. The problem has even temporarily forced students out of school.

Weiner and his neighbors are the latest victims of a surge in copper wire theft throughout Los Angeles County.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-27/hacienda-heights-cut-cable-service-frontier