Three men and a woman from California have pleaded guilty to charges alleging they disguised themselves as legitimate work crews and broke into telecommunications towers in at least three states – including Colorado – and resold stolen equipment for profit. 

The group wore hardhats and reflective vests while visiting sites in a work truck with fake company decals on the sides, according to a case document. 

The group used specialized keys or access codes to gain access to power systems for the towers. When those didn’t work, they forced their way into the sites, according to the indictment. 

Once inside the sites, the group collected equipment, namely rectifiers. Those devices are type of converter which initiates a temporary power source when a primary source of A/C electricity fails. An unspecified number of towers were broken into, according to the indictment, but they were located in California, Nevada, Colorado, and other states (which prosecutors did not name or quantify). 

In particular, the Weld County Sheriff’s Office was named as a participant in the federal investigation.

The stolen rectifiers were later resold to other telecommunications companies, according to the indictment. Those buyers were not identified, but two were located in Arvada and Grand Junction. 

At least 485 rectifiers were stolen, according to the indictment. The four members of the group agreed to split a repayment to the affected companies between $230,000 and $550,000 as part of their arrangement with federal prosecutors.

Stephan James Evanovich, 46, of Placerville, Calif., pleaded guilty March 5 to charges related to the transport of stolen goods across state lines. Evanovich, in the indictment, allegedly coordinated the group. He told the in-field crews which tower sites to break into, provided guidance on how to avoid law enforcement detection, collected the stolen equipment, and created the company which sold and distributed the stolen rectifiers.    

Evanonich is scheduled to be sentenced June 11. He faces a maximum 10 years in prison. 

Thirty-five-year-old Andrea Carter, formerly of Sacramento, was sentenced on June 5, 2025, to 29 months in prison.

Jonathan Matthew Curl, 36, and Trevor Fountain, 38, both of Sacramento, are slated to be sentenced in April and May. Their sentences will likely be no more than five years each.

The scheme was allegedly launched by Curl, as described in the indictment. Curl, a former employee of telecommunications companies, distributed information about which sites to steal from and provided access codes, arrow keys, and training that allowed he, Carter and Fountain to do so. 

The group stole most of the rectifiers during mid- to late-2022, and continued to resell them until February 2024.

The conspiracy began to unravel when Fountain was arrested by local authorities after he struck several towr sites in Colorado in August 2022. 

All four defendants were prosecuted in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Eastern District of California.Â