Missouri highly impacted by fiber cable ‘acts of terrorism’, Spectrum says
Missouri is one of the states most impacted by vandalism on fiber optic cables, telecommunications company Charter Communications said Monday, calling such attacks “acts of domestic terrorism.”
According to a news release, internet and cable provider Spectrum, which is owned by Charter, has seen a 200% yearly increase in felony attacks on its network through July.
The Kansas City metro has had several vandalism incidents where Spectrum and Google Fiber lines were cut this year.
The attacks affect many establishments, including local emergency services, cell towers and healthcare facilities. There have been 148 Spectrum outages in Missouri this year, according to the release.
“Our teams work tirelessly to provide the highest level of service and reliability to our customers and these felony, criminal attacks cause outages that go far beyond the inconvenience of lost connectivity,” said Charter executive vice president of field operations Tom Monaghan in the release.
“This criminal activity must not be allowed to continue,” he said. “We need the continued support of law enforcement, an increased commitment to prosecuting the criminals behind these attacks and help from the public by reporting suspicious activity when they see it.”
Last year, there were 5,770 intentional incidents of theft and vandalism between June and December 2024, according to a report from the Internet & Television Association, an industry lobbying group.
Of those, 305 incidents happened in Missouri and 22 in Kansas during that period. The group blamed the incidents on the rising value of copper as a factor, even in incidents where there is no copper.
“Damage to these lines can disrupt means of communication for many in our community,” Kansas City police spokesperson Sgt. Phil DiMartino said. “The consequences go far beyond just the immediate damage it does to the property. Anytime cables are cut, it could affect critical infrastructure such as phone lines, which could be someone’s only lifeline for emergency services.
“Often there is an attempt to sell cut cables as scrap metal,” DiMartino said. “The small return is not worth risking injury, jail time, or even death as a result of one wrong move around the power lines. Detectives are pursuing all leads to hold these offenders accountable.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Kansas City field office is also investigating several incidents of fiber optic line cuts.
“Law enforcement is still trying to determine the facts of these incidents, but the impact on public safety remains the same: disrupting access to emergency services creates potentially life-threatening situations,” FBI Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Stephen Cyrus said in a statement.
“We urge the public to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement regarding these incidents,” Cyrus said.
Missouri and 27 other states have passed legislation that deems attacks on critical communications infrastructure a felony. Damage to a critical infrastructure facility is a class D felony in Missouri.
But Charter called for stronger actions against offenders.
“[M]ore support is needed both in those states yet to act and in Congress, which needs to make attacks on critical infrastructure a felony crime across the country,” the release stated. “As these criminals are found and arrested, it is vital that they are prosecuted fully for their crimes that put the public and the country in danger. Stricter penalties are a necessary deterrent to this growing problem.”
Spectrum is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information related to the attacks that lead to an arrest. Anyone with information can contact Spectrum at 833-404-TIPS (8477) or reach out to local law enforcement.
