cable tv

[maw]

a friend and i hooked into a neighbors cable tv line with her consent one weekend so that we could watch football on our condo boatdock. the cable came undone sunday night somehow and the neighbor called the cable company to complain and they came out.
we had forgotten to disconnect the cable line we used and when the cable guys saw the cable line,tv,splitter they called the law.
the law took everything and now i have charges filed on me because i talked to the officer and said WE did it but we wanted to make it legal with the cable company. cable company wants my a..! they have an old beef with me anyway. i've even told the cable company i'd pay any and all service calls but they just keep putting me off saying 'we'll get back to you'. do i need a lawyer for this or handle it myself. we are not in the business of stealing cable, we just wanted to watch a football game that we could not get on a regular antenna. advise please.

 

[George W]

While I don't like cable companies, what you did could be viewed like stealing from a store ("I wanted to eat the cake but I didn't bring any money"). They caught you and it's too late to say "Okay, NOW I'll pay for it" if they want to press charges. The issues are how much of an example does the cable company want to make? and have they got a better case? and might they have some problems in proof or the law that you don't know about?

A lawyer will know the answer to the last question. He MIGHT be able to work out a deal to get the cable company to drop it or get the DA to decide not to proceed.

Or the cable company may forget about it. Or the DA may say "I have too many other more important cases." But take this advice.

The best chance to win is NOW before formal charges are brought and the DA commits more resources that he expects a return on.