‘He was trying to take the power out;’ 1 man accused of vandalizing cell phone towers

TROY — A Piqua man is accused of vandalizing five cell phone towers in Miami County and some AT&T customers did not have service for about 34 hours this week, according to Troy Police.

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News Center 7′s Xavier Hershovitz spoke with officers Friday about this case and has the 911 calls the suspect made. They tell him a male suspect shut down power to two of them.

Christopher Daniels is accused of vandalizing one of five towers on Foss Way in Troy.

He rammed his truck through a gate, then hooked his truck up to bunch of cables and yanked them out, according to police.

News Center 7 got these 911 calls through a public records request.

“Hello, I have a question for you,” the caller said to dispatchers. “Do you have any extension numbers for homeland security, FBI?”

This was the first call authorities got from Daniels on Monday.

“He believed there was some paranormal activity going on in town,” said Officer Scott Gates, Troy City Police.

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Hershovitz says there was another 911 call.

“Shut down the towers,” he told dispatchers.

“They can’t shut down the towers to the whole city,” said the dispatcher.”

“Why the hell not? You want people to die?” he replied to dispatchers.

“He felt like he had to take out the cell phone towers,” said Gates. “He felt like they were powering some things in the clouds.”

Daniels drove to five different cell phone towers in Miami County, ramming them with his truck and attempted to shut down the power, Troy Police said. He took the power out at two of the towers causing a 34 hour disruption in service for one, 28 hour for the other tower.

“He felt like evil was going to come out of the clouds and cause murder and chaos,” Gates told Hershovitz. “He was trying to take the power out of the towers.”

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Daniels then broke into two homes in Troy, police said.

“Startled the people living there,” said Gates. “The woke up and he’s standing over them.”

That’s when police arrested him and is charged with aggravated trespassing, felony vandalism and disrupting public service.

“I understand that I’m in trouble,” the suspect said. “But guess what? I think I just saved some lives. I’ll tell that right now.”

Hershovitz reports Troy Police are finalizing their paperwork in this investigation and expect Daniels to face even more felony charges.

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