Colorado Springs Police arrest suspect connected to January Comcast internet outage
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Police arrested a suspect and are searching for another in connection to vandalism to an internet provider that led to mass outages in January.
On Jan. 11, officers with the Colorado Springs Police Department responded to Comcast at 322 East Cucharras St. to investigate ten fiber-optic cables that had been damaged.
Due to the damaged cables, thousands of Comcast customers were without internet and phone services in the downtown area.
According to CSPD, the amount of damage for the cables ranged between $151,316.00 – $251,316.00
13 Investigates obtained security footage showing just after 3:30 a.m. a truck entered an alleyway between Colorado Ave. and E Cucharras St. Moments later, a person exits the truck on the sidewalk of E. Chucharras St. and takes a power tool to the service line located underground.
Another angle of the surveillance video shows the suspected vandal getting out of the same truck and stealing a bumper from a car from a local auto body shop.
Thursday, CSPD announced two suspects connected to the vandalism were identified, Michael Taylor and Brad Koczot.
Taylor has since been arrested. According to CSPD, there is an arrest warrant out for Koczot.
CSPD identified both suspects as "prolific criminal offenders." According to police, prolific offenders "have amassed a large number of criminal convictions in specific categories like theft" and both men are in that category.
