3 Accused of Cable Decoder Scheme
Undercover officers arrested two men and a woman on suspicion of selling illegal cable decoders to Paragon Cable subscribers, police said Wednesday.
Investigators estimated the cable company lost $9,000 to $20,000 in service fees.
Garden Grove officers served a search warrant Tuesday at A & A Electronics in Sunset Beach and found two suspects with a modified cable box and small amounts of marijuana and LSD, police said.
The third suspect was arrested later in Huntington Beach in connection with the cable scam.
“This modification allows the home to receive all channels without paying for the services,” Garden Grove Police Lt. John Woods said.
Van Vu, 18, of Sunset Beach and Farrah Maples, 18, of Orange were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to sell decoding devices and drug possession. Adi Roth, 20, of Anaheim was held on the conspiracy charge.
Investigators allege the threesome began distributing fliers in Garden Grove and Huntington Beach a few weeks ago, offering to modify cable boxes so that customers would have access to such services as adult movies and pay-per-view shows. Clients would call a pager number on the flier and one of the suspects would pick up the cable box, promising to return it within about two hours.
Undercover detectives called the business and asked them to modify a cable box, provided by Paragon Cable, and documented the operation.
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