Thanks for the info Mark and really good job catching someone. My complaint is mainly with ATT. I have spent hours with them trying to get information and even they dont know what is happening and dont try to communicate. My other complaint is with Ray Mueller who has seemingly done nothing to alert the press to the problem so that constituents have some idea what the heck is going on: we have no idea when we will get service back. In my area there are some really old people with medical problems and they might experience difficulty getting help if they need it. Also I think that a lot of burglar alarms rely on the web which is a problem for some people. Maybe the
SO could put up some kind of alert with timelines since people can check that on their cellphones. (Although this might alert more crooks to burglar alarms being off)I m really curious as to how the crooks were able to carry out 2 miles of copper wire without being seen. I am also curious as to who these criminals are.
On Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 03:26:33 PM PDT, Mark Myers
wrote:
Hi Janet,
We recognize and understand how disruptive these crimes can be to the community and we want to assure you that the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is committed to addressing copper wire theft.
This week, the Sheriff’s Office made an arrest in connection with at least one copper wire theft involving telecommunications infrastructure in the Town of Portola Valley.
The arrest comes after the Sheriff’s Office has allocated significant resources to investigate the recent thefts of copper wire and cable from telecommunications infrastructure in Portola Valley.
Our investigations are ongoing and we plan to share additional information when appropriate about our extensive work to identify those who have stolen the copper and caused these disruptions.
We appreciate you reaching out.
Best,
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Mark T. Myers, Assistant Sheriff
San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office
330 Bradford Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
650-363-4045
mtmyers@smcgov.org
http://www.smcsheriff.com
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From: Janet Davis
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2026 2:25 PM
To: CEO_BoardFeedback ; Michael Callagy ; City Council Council ; Kenneth Binder ; Mark Myers
Cc: dave Price ; Arden Margulis ; Gunter Steffen
Subject: ATT DEBACLE
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of San Mateo County. Unless you recognize the senders email address and know the content is safe, do not click links, open attachments or reply.
COMMUNICATIONS SABOTAGE
Last month, in February we had no internet or land line forNINE DAYS because thieves demolished the ATT infrastructure to steal the copper wire. This affected all of Stanford Weekend Acres, Ladera, much of Portola Valley and part of Woodside. No information was available to residents, and not even the ATT employees in their office or on the ground working, were able to inform residents when service would be restored. In addition to that, Alpine road was blocked by numerous trucks and cranes making access by emergency vehicles almost impossible. One fire truck trying to respond to an emergency was blocked at Junipero Serra. The Sheriff’s Office was also unaware of the problem since their access to ATT website showed that there were no outages! For this gross inconvenience we received a $20 discount on our bill!
This month we are currently inDay FIVE of yet another, even wider outage caused by yet another theft of copper. This time however,ATT has no idea when service will be restored,and no information is publicly available.
However, after considerable sleuthing, a reliable source informed me that since a Board of Directors of ATT resides in Portola Valley,FIBER is being installed in that town. Allegedly fiber is also in the process of being installed (at least in parts of PV) along Alpine Road. ATT has absolutely no information as to if and when it will be installed through Stanford Weekend Acres!
Apparently a while back, a billionaire Trump donor living in Los Trancos Woods paid $80,000 to install fiber to his estate but refused to allow other PV residents to access that line.
A few years ago, Stanford installed fiber from Campus to Rural Lane then onto Alpine andacross the front of our driveway and thence over Alpine to SLAC. However that is SU’s private line.
QUESTIONS:
How was it possible for thieves to deconstruct and move2 whole miles of copper wiring without anyone seeing them?
Knowing the vulnerability of utility lines why are they not protected by cameras?
Since even PGE is able to detect disruptions in service, why is ATT not?
Where is the market for obviously stolen copper?
Why is Ray Mueller, who usually craves photo ops with media, not on top of this and has apparently done absolutely nothing to discover the facts or inform constituents?
Whyis there no public information?
Why is there no definitive time line for restoration of service?
Who is going to pay for all this?
What is the county doing to require ATT to install fiber asap in all affected areas?
Is there a Federal crime force working on apprehending these criminals?
What, if any, liability does ATT have for not providing a safe and reliable service?
What contingency plans (if any) does the county have for dealing with similar problems and their impact on potential public service/fire/evacuation/terrorist activity?
What (if any) litigation does the county contemplating with respect to ATT and its incompetence?
What is the future for DSL land line connections, especially in remote areas?
BOTTOM LINE:
This is a disgrace regarding communications and shows up the fact that this area is not prepared for a true disaster. One has to wonder how prepared the County is for earthquakes, fire, dam failure, disruption of water and gas facilities, tsunami, bridge collapse, terrorist activity, aircraft crash, etc. They certainly were NOT prepared for the flooding in 1998 and years after that.
(Typed in the library)