Crime & Safety

Vandal Cut Cable Wire, Neighborhood Loses Phone Service

Police investigating Sunday incident along Bay Avenue

Fiber optic cables were maliciously cut on Bay Avenue early Sunday morning, creating a large-scale outage for residents, police said.

The incident is being investigated as criminal mischief, said Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy.

Between 3 and 4 a.m. Sunday, a suspect cut fiber optic cables at Briar and Bay avenues, causing several hundred Verizon customers to lose cable and phone service in the area, the police chief said.

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The wires were at a hub at the intersection, and the severing of the line created $5,000 in damage to the fiber optics system, the police chief said.

“An unknown suspect cut fiber optic cables that go into a hub at that location causing over $5,000 worth of damage and left several hundred subscribers to Verizon cable and phone without service,” said the police chief.

Find out what's happening in Toms Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Verizon has since restored power to the area of East Dover affected by the crime.

Bay and Briar avenues is a residential neighborhood between the Vaughn and Cedar Grove stretches of Route 571.

Officer Kyle Martucci is investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to call police headquarters at 732-349-0150.


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