ABC15 spoke with Phoenix police on Monday on a major bust in February for someone who stole more than $330k in cell phone tower batteries.
The recent thefts allegedly committed by one person put the safety of Maricopa County at risk.
A man, identified by police as Andres Samuel Contreras, was recently charged with stealing dozens of batteries used as backup for cell phone towers, which, if there's a widespread power outage, could cut communication to millions of cell phone customers.
Cell towers, some of which may be styled to look like a palm tree from a distance, have their own power sources, and if there's a power outage, the towers pull power from a series of batteries.
If there's a power outage and no backup batteries in the tower, you will be without cellular connectivity, including potential access to emergency services.
"That's actually happened on one of these instances of cell tower batteries where the tower was shorted out and batteries were stolen... People were unable to call 911," Phoenix Police Detective Adam Popelier said.
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Popelier has worked since October 2024 to stop Contreras, who allegedly stole more than 900 cell tower backup batteries, which can be approximately two feet wide and weigh more than 100lbs, from nearly every Valley city.
Contreras allegedly did this at 66 different cell towers, costing T-Mobile $330,000 in replacement and repair costs.
Contreras was a contractor working on T-Mobile cell towers, so he knew how to access the tower, according to police. Once inside the tower, he would swipe the batteries, intending to resell them.
While each battery is valued at $300 or more when they're new, the resale value is closer to $30, according to officials.
"To go through the trouble of stealing these batteries and transporting them for only $20-30 each, in this economy, it doesn't make sense," said Popelier.
Contreras is being charged with multiple counts of felony burglary and trafficking stolen property.
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