3 Youths Arrested in Phone-Service Case

Three Moorpark teenagers who learned via the Internet how to steal phone services from outdoor access boxes were arrested when a neighbor caught the trio trespassing, authorities said.

The boys, whose identities were not released because of their age, broke into the side yard of a house in the 4000 block of Little Hollow Place about 10 p.m. Saturday, said Det. Mark Englander of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The occupants were not home at the time. A neighbor saw the youths and detained them.

When deputies arrived at the house, the boys allegedly admitted they planned to plug their own telephone into the outside telephone access box attached to the house and make free calls, Englander said. They had a telephone, wires and other equipment, he said.

“One of the boys said he learned the technique of how to do this on the Internet,” Englander said.

The owner of the house arrived soon after the police and said the boys did not have permission to be in his yard, he said.

The youths were arrested on suspicion of prowling, then released into their parents’ custody, Englander said.

“This is a new one,” he said. “This is the first case of this kind that I know of in Moorpark.”