Man arrested for intentionally shutting off Woodland Park cell tower, causing major service outage

WOODLAND PARK, Colo. (KRDO) – A man is in custody after police say he deliberately shut off a cell tower in Woodland Park, causing a "major service outage" for residents and impacting local emergency services.

According to the Woodland Park Police Department (WPPD), cellular customers experienced a major outage on Thursday, Aug. 28.

The department said the interruption, originally suspected to be caused by weather conditions, not only affected civilian customers but also emergency services in the county.

The day after, radio service workers reported to WPPD that they'd learned an unknown man had entered the fenced property housing the service tower on Aug. 28 and "intentionally turned off the power supply to the radio communications tower."

The service workers told police that the suspect had moved the circuit breakers to the “off” position, disabling the tower's power supply and shutting down both T-Mobile and Verizon equipment, effectively cutting service in and around Woodland Park.

WPPD said that based on an initial investigation, police believe the outage was intentional, and that the cellular services were the suspect's intended target.

On Friday, WPPD developed probable cause to arrest Christian Buhr in connection with the incident. Buhr is now being held at the Teller County Jail on $2,000 bond.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has joined Woodland Park police in investigating the case.

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