Verizon is offering a $10,000 reward as police in three South Jersey towns try to find whoever is responsible for vandalizing its network on at least 10 different occasions, disrupting television, internet and landline phone service for thousands of customers.

The vandal, who police said could be an angry former contractor or employee, has intentionally damaged fiber optics and in Cherry Hill in Camden County and Shamong and Evesham in Burlington County, Evesham police Lt. Joseph Friel said Tuesday.

“The person obviously has some knowledge of the system and of the infrastructure,” Cherry Hill police chief Bud Monaghan told 6abc.com. “They’re not simply coming up and making a cut into a wire. They’re making a cut into a lower part of a wire and then going up a few feet and cutting it again and removing that middle section.”

In some cases it took as much as 24 hours for Verizon to repair the damage its fiber-optic and copper communications lines and related equipment, the company said.

In Evesham, the vandal struck in the overnight hours of Jan. 5 and Feb. 23 in different parts of towns, Friel told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday.

The Cherry Hill incidents took place twice in March and then again on April 29 on Springdale Road, 6abc.com said. On Monday, Cherry Hill police released a surveillance photo of the suspect’s vehicle.

Information on when the incidents in Shamong took place wasn’t immediately available Tuesday.

“This is extremely dangerous and reckless activity and it needs to stop,” said Mike Mason, Verizon’s chief security officer in a statement. “Each time a cable is cut or our equipment is damaged, these perpetrators are jeopardizing our customers’ ability to communicate. It means they may not be able to contact their families, a doctor or 911 emergency services."

The reward offered by Verizon would be provided after an arrest and a conviction, the company said.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman.

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