LOS ANGELES : Ham Operator Guilty Again of Illegal Broadcasting
A Harbor City man who in 1984 became the first amateur radio hobbyist to go to prison for transmitting without a license has been convicted again of illegal broadcasting.
Richard A. Burton, 48, faces up to eight years in federal prison and $1 million in fines after four guilty verdicts reached Monday by jurors at U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
The Federal Communications Commission asserted that Burton was tape-recorded talking on a Southern California ham radio frequency May 5 and 20 and July 4 and 6.
Burton did not testify at the two-day trial, although he contended that others were mimicking his voice or playing old recordings of him talking.
Burton was convicted of illegally broadcasting in 1982 after the FCC stripped him of his ham license for using obscene language on the air. The obscenity charge was dropped, but Burton’s license was never returned.
Jurors at the latest trial were not told that Burton served nearly seven months of a four-year prison term eight years ago. But the earlier case is likely to be a factor when Burton is sentenced Feb. 8, Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel Collins said.
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