Stealing Cable (Somewhat Urgent)

[AndrewCodd]

Oregon

I was recently caught "stealing cable". I'm being threatened by the school board and facing possible termination. The situation is I live in a dorm, and there is a storage closet across the hall that has a cable TV. I purchased a split, and a 100ft cable and a 6 ft cable. I installed the devices properly, and the tv across the hall still had perfect cable, as did the one in our room. We were also told we would be getting cable by the Residential Living Supervisor, but he never followed through. My arguement is that I didn't technically steal cable as cable was undisrupted in the originating room, I used my own goods, I am a resident of the location the cable is purchased for, and i didn't lead cable off the premises. Does this hold any water?

If anything i was also very cooperative with revealing how i did my work, and was able to remove the parts without any damage whatsoever.

My board is this afternoon, so any advice quick would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Zigner]

Oregon

I was recently caught "stealing cable". I'm being threatened by the school board and facing possible termination. The situation is I live in a dorm, and there is a storage closet across the hall that has a cable TV. I purchased a split, and a 100ft cable and a 6 ft cable. I installed the devices properly, and the tv across the hall still had perfect cable, as did the one in our room. We were also told we would be getting cable by the Residential Living Supervisor, but he never followed through. My arguement is that I didn't technically steal cable as cable was undisrupted in the originating room, I used my own goods, I am a resident of the location the cable is purchased for, and i didn't lead cable off the premises. Does this hold any water?

If anything i was also very cooperative with revealing how i did my work, and was able to remove the parts without any damage whatsoever.

My board is this afternoon, so any advice quick would be greatly appreciated.

So, in a nutshell, you admitted to stealing cable from the provider (not the room across the hall)...

 

[Some Random Guy]

My arguement is that I didn't technically steal cable as cable was undisrupted in the originating room, I used my own goods, I am a resident of the location the cable is purchased for, and i didn't lead cable off the premises. Does this hold any water?

Based on that argument it is a slam dunk theft of services case. your argument is without merit.

We were also told we would be getting cable by the Residential Living Supervisor, but he never followed through.

Now that is a more interesting argument. Were you promised access to cable and in writing? Was cable included in your room fees? Its hard to be convicted of theft of services if you are already paying for those services. Sure you were voilating university rules and can be disciplined for that, but at least it shouldn't be a criminal matter.

Whether you need to get a lawyer involved depends on what the consequences of this accusation are. If you are looking at getting kicked out of school or being criminally charged then a local lawyer would be in order.

 

[AndrewCodd]

There was a verbal agreement between myself and roomates and our RLS. He gave us a criterian in which upon completing he would have cable installed. We matched the eligibility requirements, asked him about cable, and he put it off and eventually stopped discussing the matter with us. I don't know if a verbal agreement means much, but i do have 2 other roomates who I'm sure can provide details as witnesses.

 

[Zigner]

There was a verbal agreement between myself and roomates and our RLS. He gave us a criterian in which upon completing he would have cable installed. We matched the eligibility requirements, asked him about cable, and he put it off and eventually stopped discussing the matter with us. I don't know if a verbal agreement means much, but i do have 2 other roomates who I'm sure can provide details as witnesses.

So, instead of remedying this correctly, you took it upon yourself to just steal the service.

 

[racer72]

Now that is a more interesting argument. Were you promised access to cable and in writing? Was cable included in your room fees? Its hard to be convicted of theft of services if you are already paying for those services. Sure you were voilating university rules and can be disciplined for that, but at least it shouldn't be a criminal matter.

It's kind of hard to make that argument when the OP supplied the equipment used to pilfer the cable signal.

 

[justalayman]

My arguement is that I didn't technically steal cable as cable was undisrupted in the originating room, I used my own goods, I am a resident of the location the cable is purchased for, and i didn't lead cable off the premises. Does this hold any water?

no. You are guilty of theft of services any way you look at it. It wouldn't matter if the other tv was in the same room and even made the service to the other tv better, you are guilty of theft of services.

 

[xylene]

It's kind of hard to make that argument when the OP supplied the equipment used to pilfer the cable signal.

The signal is what is being stolen, not the equipment.

If you plug a TV into a wall jack and 'get cable' without paying or arranging authorization that is cable theft.

 

[CSO286]

It's kind of hard to make that argument when the OP supplied the equipment used to pilfer the cable signal.

From Thesaurus.com

Main Entry: pilfer
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: steal, embezzle
Synonyms: annex, appropriate, borrow, cop, crib*, filch, liberate*, lift*, moonlight, palm, pinch*, pluck, purloin, requisition, rip off, rob, scrounge, snare, snatch, swipe, take, thieve, walk off with

The cable signal was what was stolen. Hence, OP is guilty of theft of services.

Jsut like if I took a splitter and cable at attached it to my neighbor's home and got my cable that way, I would be guilty of theft of serivces......

 

[Some Random Guy]

It's kind of hard to make that argument when the OP supplied the equipment used to pilfer the cable signal.

Well now that the poster has made it clear that he was not paying for the cable as part of the rent and that there was no agreement with the cable company to provide cable to his room, I agree that there seems to be no plausible defense to the stealing cable charge.

 

[racer72]

What was so hard to understand about my post that it is being questioned? SRG made a claim that the OP might have an out if there was something in writing stating that the cable service was included in the rent. I stated that because the OP supplied the splitter and cables to obtain the cable service, his statement did not hold much water. I never stated that the OP stole any equipment. I know what pilfer means, my use of the word was perfect for what I was saying. SRG concurred with me in his last post. My post was never directed at the OP.