Stolen cable repair truck in Cocoa leads to Spectrum internet outage

Spectrum internet service for portions of Rockledge and Cocoa remained down for several hours on Wednesday after police said a 25-year-old man stole a repair truck routing fiber optic cable.

The resulting outage affected up to 5,000 customers, including businesses and residences, according to a spokesperson for Spectrum, the telecommunications company that contracted the repairs.

The $100,000 truck, hitched to a $50,000 trailer filled with tools and other equipment, was recovered around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday at a Denny’s restaurant parking lot on Merritt Island.

“Several police agencies were affected also,” said Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Cocoa Police Department. Officers had to use backup radios after the cables were snapped. Dispatch and 911 systems were not affected, Martinez said.

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Authorities said the suspect, Shane Younger, took off in the Ford truck as Spectrum repairmen were spooling out fiber optic cable during a repair job at Fiske Boulevard near Rosa L. Jones.

"The person came out of nowhere and stole the truck," said Joe Durkin, spokesperson for Spectrum. One worker actually jumped from the truck as the suspected thief rolled off, violently snapping and damaging the cable.

“The worker felt the truck and trailer rocking and then start to move. He jumped out and saw the truck speed southbound on south Fiske Boulevard,” Martinez added.

The damaged cables could cost as much as $10,000 to repair.

"Our crews are out now making repairs. About 5,000 customers were impacted. We do appreciate the customers and their patience as we work to repair the broken fiber lines," Durkin said.

The repairs were expected to be completed by Wednesday afternoon.

Cocoa police were alerted by the Sheriff’s Office that the truck was seen pulling into the parking lot at Denny’s. Police said Younger had gotten out of the vehicle and walked into the restaurant to use the restroom. A dispute ensued after Younger sat at the bar and told a waitress that "someone was trying to kill," him, reports show.

Younger was taken into custody and booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex on grand theft charges.

Brevard County spokesman Don Walker said that the government building and the emergency operation center were both without internet all day Wednesday after the incident. He said that county workers had to make phone calls and do more work in person using internet to connect to email on their personal phones.

He added that it was lucky that the emergency operation center did not have to deal with the real crisis without internet connection.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter at @JDGallop.