Source: PCSD
Source: Society Of Cable TV Engineers (2006 Photo)By Christopher Francis - email
PHOENIX (KOLD) - As another Super Bowl Sunday approaches, authorities have arrested a man in connection with a notorious case of cable tampering in Tucson during the big game two years ago.
The Arizona Attorney General's office says Frank Tanori Gonzalez has been arrested on charges of fraud and computer tampering. Gonzalez is accused of interrupting the Super Bowl on Comcast Cable on February 1, 2009, to customers in the greater Tucson area for 37 seconds with x-rated pornography. The cable company ended up giving its 80,000 Tucson-area customers a $10 credit becaue of the incident.
A joint task force headed by the FBI and Marana police arrested Gonzalez late Friday afternoon, the A.G.'s office said. It also said Gonzalez was a Cox Cable employee at the time of the incident, but he terminated afterwards. Cox has not yet responded to news of the arrest.
"As we suspected, the interruption of the 2009 Super Bowl in Tucson was an intentional, malicious act," says Comcast Corporate Affairs Manager Kelle Maslyn. "After our internal investigation proved our technical and security systems were working properly, we turned our investigation over to the FBI. We appreciate the FBI's diligence in thoroughly investigating the programming interruption and determining what happened."
The A.G.'s office has not provided details on how Gonzalez is suspected of causing the interruption or what led investigators to him.
A 2006 photo of Gonzalez on the Internet uncovered by KOLD News 13 shows him wearing medal from a "Cable-Tec Games" sponsored by the Society of Cable TV Engineers.
Copyright 2011 KOLD. All rights reserved.
