Warrant: Motive in Norwalk cable cutting was copper theft

Dec 02, 2023

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Multiple fiber cuts due to supsected vandalism have caused more than 40,000 Optimum customers in Fairfield County, including 22,000 in Norwalk, to lose internet service Friday, the company's outage map shows.

Jillian Nicole Persons

Austin Keith Geddings

Multiple fiber cuts due to supsected vandalism have caused more than 40,000 Optimum customers in Fairfield County, including 22,000 in Norwalk, to lose internet service Friday, the company's outage map shows.

STAMFORD — A couple from North Carolina allegedly damaged about $50,000 worth of fiber optic cable in Norwalk and left thousands without internet in what police said was an attempt to steal copper wire to pawn, according to an arrest affidavit.

Austin Keith Geddings, 26, and Jillian Nicole Persons, 30, were arrested earlier this month on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit to first-degree criminal mischief and interfering with a police officer in connection to the mid-March outage that left 40,0000 Optimum customers in Fairfield County without internet for hours.

Optimum, which has an office on Cross Street, notified police about the vandalism around 7:15 a.m. on March 24.

Norwalk Detective Matthew Nyquist wrote in an arrest affidavit that an employee reported that 2,000 fiber optic cables, totaling about $50,000 in value, were cut between two poles on Broad Street near the Route 7 overpass in the area.

The employee told police that "based on his experience, the incident does not appear to be a sabotage but that he believes whoever cut the cable was looking for copper or possibly something with resale value," Nyquist wrote.

The damaged fiber optic cables, which are worthless once cut, were left at the scene, according to Nyquist.

After reviewing footage from a home in the area, investigators were able to identify a large box truck that was seen driving toward the area where the cables were cut, then three minutes later driving off in the opposite direction, according to Nyquist.

Four days after the outage, a Norwalk police officer responded to the Bed Bath & Beyond on Westport Avenue on reports of a large box truck parked illegally in the area, the affidavit said. Nyquist wrote that the officer advised the driver, identified at the time as Persons, to move the truck, which she did.

Later, the officer realized the misparked truck as similar to the truck seen in the footage taken from Broad Street. After running the license plate on the truck, investigators tracked the truck to Bridgeport, where they found Persons and a man who identified himself as "Paul Pally," Nyquist wrote.

Both individuals were brought into the Norwalk Police Department for questioning. During the interrogation, Persons told police that she had been on Broad Street the morning of the outage; however she said she and her boyfriend, whom she repeatedly referred to as "Pally," only "went there to park and sleep," according to the affidavit.

The two were released after questioning without being charged.

Police reached out to Persons's mother, who identified the man she was with as Geddings.

Police requested warrants and located Persons at a Bridgeport business and took her into custody without incident. Blake said Geddings was arrested "a short time later" in a wooded area in Stratford.

As a result of identifying Geddings as "Pally," Persons was also charged with making a false statement to police, Nyquist wrote.

Geddings and Persons were each arraigned at the state Superior Court in Stamford on Friday afternoon, at which time a judge upheld $200,000 bonds on each. Both are next expected to appear in court on May 17.