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Spring Hill man faces charges in cable theft ring

He is accused of stealing Bright House Networks equipment worth about $8,500. Authorities say the theft ring stretched from Florida to South America.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published October 12, 2005

SPRING HILL - The cable equipment theft ring went from Pasco County to Hernando County to Naples and Miami and even South America.

Authorities say David M. Anderson was the Hernando link.

Anderson, 28, of 13024 Seagate St., Spring Hill, was arrested Monday night and charged with 16 counts of grand theft, according to a Hernando County sheriff's report.

The booty included six line extenders and 15 line amplifiers. The Bright House Networks equipment was worth about $8,500.

Anderson was released from the Hernando County Jail on Tuesday after posting $50,000 bail, records show.

Last week, authorities arrested two Pasco men and one man in Miami on charges of stealing power supply boxes and other equipment in a setup that eventually sent the equipment to Colombia.

John Putnam, 48, of Hudson worked as a cable contractor for RGE Electric, according to an arrest affidavit.

Kenneth Primrose, 21, of Hudson was working for Putnam, the Sheriff's Office said.

Vidal Portocarrero of Miami then sent the stolen equipment to Colombia, an arrest report said.

"There's a lot of money to be made in Third World countries setting up these network systems," Pasco sheriff's Sgt. Kenneth Gregory told the Times last week.

"These guys that were arrested were just one small spoke in the wheel," Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent Rick Singer told the Times.

Putnam was charged with the theft of 12 pieces of the equipment.

He told Hernando authorities that he was selling it to Portocarrero. They met behind a Mobil gas station off Interstate 75 in Naples.

After he was arrested, Putnam told authorities about Anderson.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office charged Anderson with stealing the line extenders and amplifiers. Most of the thefts happened within a mile of his house in his Spring Hill neighborhood: two on Hartford Court, three on Copperhill Drive and five on Bensbrooke Drive.

Anderson told authorities he knew of Putnam and the theft ring but said he had cut the equipment out of old systems. He denied stealing any equipment from active systems.

Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified October 12, 2005, 00:19:18]