CHICAGO — A Rogers Park man has been arrested and accused of using a jamming device to block cell phone service and CTA communications on the north branch of the Red Line.
Dennis Nicholl, 63, was arrested Tuesday morning after he was identified as the man who has been using a "signal jamming device" on the Red Line to disrupt communication for the Chicago Transit Authority and its passengers, according to Chicago Police.
CTA officials had asked the help of outside agencies to investigate complaints of spotty cell phone reception on stretches of the Red Line, police said in a news release. Chicago Police and Federal Communications Commission agents assisted in the investigation.
Passengers have been complaining of a man using a "cell phone jammer" on the L since at least October. A lengthy Reddit thread from October shows commuters reporting the man's presence in several areas, including Brown Line trains.
WHO is this guy, and WHY does he have a cell-phone jammer on the Red Line? https://t.co/IKDzELg6eq pic.twitter.com/glEBxcqKCD
— A$AP Keegan (@keeganGOudie) October 22, 2015
Eventually, undercover officers found Nicholl using the jamming device on the Red Line, police said.
Nicholl got on the Red Line at the Loyola station Tuesday morning and was again seen using the device, police said. Officers arrested him at the Granville station.
Nicholl, of the 1000 block of West Loyola Avenue, is charged with one felony count of unlawful interference with a public utility. He is due to make his first court appearance Wednesday.
It was not immediately known whether service with the CTA's physical track signals was disrupted.
A message left at Nicholl's home was not immediately returned.
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