Vandalism to fiber cables across Los Angeles and other portions of Southern California has prompted Verizon officials to offer a $25,000 reward.
Verizon, which offers wireless, internet, TV and phone services, said Tuesday the reward is for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the vandalism.
The company said over the past several days, vandals cut multiple fiber cables for wireless and wireline communications, causing service interruptions for thousands of customers.
The vandalism affected wireless and internet service for customers in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, with outage reports early Sunday morning in the San Fernando Valley and beyond, the California Post reported.
The company said network theft and vandalism represent a direct threat to the safety and security of communities, emergency services, healthcare, and all who rely on critical communications. Vandals also put their own lives at risk when perpetrating these crimes.
“These are criminal acts, affecting people’s safety and are putting lives at risk,” said Vandana Venkatesh, Verizon’s chief legal officer. “We are actively investigating several recent incidents and are pursuing all avenues to assist law enforcement in finding and convicting the perpetrators of these acts.”
California is home to nearly 8 million Verizon customers, with more than 12,000 of them reporting an outage, according to Downdetector.
California a target for vandalism
According to industry data, California is at particular risk for vandalism—when it comes to the economic impact of these outages, the state saw the largest losses at $252.6 million:
High Desert vandalism
In December 2025, two men were arrested after being caught in the act of stealing hundreds of feet fiber optic cables from utility poles in Barstow, resulting in more than $20,000 worth of damage, the Daily Press reported.
In August 2023, vandalism to network equipment disrupted internet services to phone and computer users across the Victor Valley.
Spectrum customers in Apple Valley began noticing no Wi-Fi connectivity. At the same time, Verizon phone users in Apple Valley complained that data services were not available.
Customers of T-Mobile, Verizon and Spectrum also reported experiencing outage issues in portions of Adelanto, Hesperia and Victorville, but mostly in Apple Valley.
Hesperia sheriff’s officials later announced that the internet disruption was caused by vandalism to fiber optic cables at a Spectrum utility pole near the corner of C Avenue and Hercules Street.
In February 2020, Spectrum customers in the High Desert were left without internet services as company engineers worked to repair severed fiber optic cables.
At that time, Dennis Johnson, director of West Regional Communications for Spectrum, told the Daily Press that lines were cut by an “unaffiliated third party.”
Johnson did not reveal the location of the damaged lines or the outage area, but numerous messages received by the Daily Press and posted on social media indicated that customers across most of Apple Valley were likely affected.
Anyone witnessing vandalism should call 911 and then contact Verizon’s Security department at 800-997-3287.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Verizon offers $25,000 reward due to vandalism across Southern California
Reporting by Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press | USA TODAY Network
