WESTLOCK -A vandalized cell phone tower has left 150 farmers without vital cell service for weeks.
RCMP responded to a call on June 14 about a vandalized cell phone tower on Range Road 233 that left 150 farmers without vital service.
At approximately 9 a.m. on June 14 RCMP received a call about a vandalized cell phone tower that had been stripped of the copper wire. This tower is located on the eastern cusp of Thorhild and Westlock and is owned by TELUS.
The investigation was brought up during the June 24 County Council meeting during Staff Sergeant Jeff Sehn’s quarterly report. Reeve Wiese provided some additional details that were shared by TELUS representatives.
The representatives are currently working on a temporary solution to get the service up and running in the area.
“They are working on trying to figure out a way to temporarily get it up even if everybody gets a household hub and then work on improving the one at the Clyde Tower," Wiese said.
This is still an ongoing investigation, RCMP told Westlock News, and there are no solid leads at this time. But this is not the first case of stolen copper.
Wiese said that not just TELUS but other electric companies in the area have been reporting vandals who are going after the minuscule amount of copper that is costing the county hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace.
As this is something bigger than one incident, Wiese urged Sehn to consider working with Westlock County and the Town of Westlock media teams to ensure residents are aware of the situation. The vandals have gotten better at hiding their crime by using white vehicles and wearing nice vests to make it look as though they are supposed to be there.
While RCMP is still looking into the stolen copper despite no surveillance cameras in the area, Sehn says it will be hard to have a case even if it does show up, “If they're not caught actually cutting it and bringing it with them, we have no way to identify where it came from. So, that's one of the issues after the fact investigation of that."
