SUDDENLINK DOWN IN MACK TOWN (UPDATED)

◼ Suddenlink stopped working in McKinleyville and elsewhere in the county sometime in the middle of the night. As reported in this week’s paper, someone has been cutting and, in at least one case, stealing fiber optic lines. - McKinleyville Press

Suddenlink is offering a $5,000 cash reward for the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) that are responsible for these crimes.

This is an on-going investigation and the Sheriff’s Office is working diligently to identify a suspect or suspects in these crimes and to stop further vandalisms and interruptions to Suddenlink’s services.

Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call Detective Kirkpatrick of the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division at 707-268-3640 or the Sheriff’s Tip Line at 707-268-2539.

◼ Reward offered for information on Suddenlink vandals; fiber optic line cut for the third time in less than one week - Times Standard

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the incidents, which have caused an estimated $20,000 in damage and left Suddenlink crews scrambling to restore telephone, cable and Internet services to thousands of frustrated customers across Humboldt County.

The most recent incident was reported by a Suddenlink supervisor, who discovered that a four-foot section of the company's fiber optic line had been cut out and discarded into nearby brush shortly after 11 p.m. Monday.

The vault containing the latest cut wire was 1,000 feet north of the south Weymouth Bluff Road on Blue Slide Road in Ferndale, and the resulting outage affected about 1,000 customers in Rio Dell and Scotia. A temporary repair was made to the line to restore services, a sheriff's office release said.

Lt. Wayne Hanson said the suspected vandalism appears to be related to two previous cuts made to Suddenlink's fiber optic line in the Trinidad and Ferndale areas on Friday, which caused an estimated $10,000 in damage and knocked out services for thousands of customers.

”This is not a random act of violence,” Hanson said Tuesday. “Someone knows what they are doing.”

◼ Latest fiber optic cut was in Bayside - Times Standard

◼ Suddenlink Down in McKinleyville, Blue Lake - Lost Coast Outpost

◼ Suddenlink: 95 percent restored, damage estimates at more than $50,000 - Times Standard

On Wednesday night around 11 p.m., someone broke into an underground vault, cut lengths of fiber optic cable and discarded them at the scene. Around 10,000 customers were left without service Big Lagoon, Trinidad, Blue Lake, McKinleyville, Fieldbrook and parts of Arcata.
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office has no new updates to report, and is continuing its investigation, an official said.