From: tweek@netcom.com (Michael D. Maxfield)
Subject: Might this become an ECPA test case?
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 00:04:18 GMT
Organization: Movement to Ban or Re-Regulate the CABLE MONOPOLIES
Summary: scanner monitor hears crooks on cellular phone
Distribution: usa
Keywords: ECPA cellular phones


Say this in the paper today.  My guess is that it will get thrown out 
of court on a technicality... but then again, the DA just may let the
case happen.  

From :  Contra Costa Times  Wednesday, August 19, 1992

CELLULAR CALL LEADS TO ARREST IN `ONE-MAN CRIME WAVE'
By John Koopman
Staff writer

CONCORD - In the end, it was high technology that did in Jerry White.

The 19-year-old Concord man, who police say was responsible for a 
"one-man crime wave," allegedly stole a pickup late Monday and placed 
a call on the vehicles cellular phone.

By plain luck, a radio scanner enthusiast stumbled across the frequency,
heard a man talking on the phone about stealing the vehicle, and called
police.

That led to a chase, which led to a collision between the pickup and a
police car and, ultimately, to Whites arrest, said Concord police Lt. Jim
Alcorn.

The young man was arrested on suspicion of several crimes, including auto
theft and resisting arrest, with more charges pending, Alcorn said.  He
spent Tuesday being questioned at Concord police headquarters and was on
his way late in the afternoon to be booked into the County Jail in Martinez.

"I was just goofing around with my scanner when I heard him bragging about
stealing the pickup," said Larry Miller of Concord.  "I fiqured the police 
would be interested."

They were.  Alcorn said investigators had been trying to capture White for
weeks.  He was suspected of several crimes in recent weeks, including a 
burglary in Martinez, check forgery in Emeryville and bank robbery in
Concord.

"He'd been causing the Concord police a lot of frustration," Alcorn said.
"Most of our log items in the last couple of weeks have been a result of
him.  He's been like a one-man crime wave."

Police believe White stole a vehicle late Monday and made the phone call
at about 8:30 p.m.

Miller said he heard the person on the cellular phone say that he had not
intended to steal the pickup, but that he had seen the keys in the ignition
and couldn't help but take it.

The man was still on the phone when Miller called the Concord police 
dispatcher.  At one point, he said, he help the phone near the radio so the
dispatcher could hear the man's conversation, as well.

Using information from the call, Detective Stuart Roloson staked out an
aparttment where police believed White would go.  After midnight, they 
concluded White was in the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant on Willow
Pass Road.

Officers spotted White, who fled in the pickup when he saw them coming.

Officer Joe Perez was hot on Whites tail, Alcorn said, when White slammed 
on the brakes and caused a collision.  The officer's air bag popped open and 
he was slightly injured.  White, too, was slightly injured but kept driving.

Alcorn said White drove across a lawn, hit a parked car and sped torward
Argyll Avenue, where he drove into a field and got hung up in a fence and
soft dirt.  He got out of the pickup and ran, prompting a search using a
helicopter and police dogs.

Officers found him at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and arrested him, Alcorn said.


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