Police: Thousands lose cable after truck is stolen

COCOA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Spectrum crews worked around the clock Wednesday after police say someone stole a contractor’s work truck and damaged a fiber optic cable. 

Around 5,000 people in Cocoa and Rockledge were suddenly without internet, cable and phone service after the theft happened, according to officials. 

“One of the employees was inside the trailer portion of the vehicle working the repair and he felt something move. He jumps out of the vehicle to check it out and as he’s jumping out - the vehicle speeds away,” Cocoa Police Spokesperson Yvonne Martinez said. 

Investigators say the suspect, 25-year-old Shane Younger, caused thousands of dollars in damage. Spectrum says the fiber line split. Both their residential and business customers were affected by the resulting outage. 

“We lost radio communications, the sheriff’s office, Rockledge PD, Brevard County Emergency Management all went down radio,” Martinez said. “We all had to switch to back up radio.” 

Crews worked all day on Wednesday to get the repairs done.   Meantime, police say Younger didn’t get far with the truck. They say deputies spotted it after he parked it at a nearby Denny’s and went inside. Cocoa Police then making the arrest. 

“He made some statements that he was being chased, that he thought somebody was trying to kill him. I don’t know if that was his motivation or not but regardless, he’s looking at several serious felonies now,” Martinez said. 

Spectrum crews say as of around 10 p.m., approximately 80 percent of the impacted customers had service restored.