Fed up with distracted students tapping away at mobile devices, Florida science teacher Dean Liptak took dramatic action.

After a ban on the devices proved ineffective, Liptak acquired and deployed an illegal cell service jammer to remotely disable his students' telephones, according to local station WTSP.

Unbeknownst to this high-school science teacher, however, the effects of a cell jammer are not contained to just one classroom. Signal may well have been disrupted up to 1,000 feet away, preventing 911 and other important calls from taking place, as well as interfering with police communications.

Liptak was eventually discovered when agents from Verizon contacted the school after detecting the hole in their network.

Liptak claimed he had spoken with a police officer who led him to believe that jammers were only illegal when used with "malicious intent." He also said he set it to cover 10 meters and "walked around the outside of my room with my phone to make sure it didn't interfere with any other classroom in the school, and it did not."

Related How Minerva Challenges the Online Education Status Quo

As Liptak soon found out, however, those caught using the devices can be slammed with fines as high as $112,000. Thankfully for this high school teacher, he will likely escape with little more than a first-degree misdemeanor. His employers, however, were less forgiving—and suspended him from teaching for five days.

Further Reading