Home Daily News Commuter faces felony case, accused of acting…

Criminal Justice

Commuter faces felony case, accused of acting as 'cellphone police' with jamming device

A Chicago man who works as a certified public accountant is facing a felony case because he allegedly used a jamming device to prevent fellow riders on a city train line from using their cellphones.

Judge James Brown called Dennis Nicholl the “cellphone police” on Wednesday before setting his bail at $10,000 in the Cook County Circuit Court case, reports the Chicago Tribune (reg. req.). He is charged with unlawful interference with a public utility.

Complaints by fellow riders and a photo that made its way onto social media alerted authorities to the issue and pointed them to the 63-year-old Nicholl as a suspect, the newspaper says. A plainclothes officer spotted Nicholl with a jammer on the Red Line and had his own cellphone call dropped before Nicholl was taken into custody on Tuesday, according to authorities.

Attorney Charles Lauer represents Nicholl. “He’s disturbed by people talking around him,” the lawyer said after the bond hearing. “He might have been selfish in thinking about himself, but he didn’t have any malicious intent.”