Teh One Who Knocks
03-10-2016, 12:25 PM
Steve Schmadeke - Chicago Tribune
http://i.imgur.com/U1alwkB.jpg
Aaron Robison was commuting home from work last fall on the Brown Line when an older man carrying a plastic bag of Old Style beer took a seat across from him.
The man opened a beer and surveyed the car, scowling as he saw another rider talking on a cellphone a few feet away, Robison said. He watched as the man pulled a clunky black device topped with five antennas from his pocket and switched it on.
Almost instantly, commuters who had been talking on their phones went silent, checking their screens for the source of their dropped calls, Robison said.
On Tuesday, undercover officers arrested the man who had allegedly created his own personal quiet car in recent months with an illegal device he imported from China, according to Cook County prosecutors and Chicago police.
An attorney for Dennis Nicholl, 63, a certified public accountant, said his client wanted only some peace and quiet on his commute from his North Side home to the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, where officials confirmed he works as a financial analyst.
"He's disturbed by people talking around him," attorney Charles Lauer said after a judge set bail at $10,000 while dubbing Nicholl "the cellphone police." "He might have been selfish in thinking about himself, but he didn't have any malicious intent."
Records provided by the Federal Communications Commission show that the regulator has issued citations mostly for people attempting to sell the illegal jamming devices on Craigslist. But in at least one case, a Florida resident was hit with a $48,000 fine for using a cellphone jamming device as he commuted daily around Tampa. The offender told officials he wanted to prevent motorists from using their cellphones while driving.
A CTA spokeswoman said Nicholl's arrest appears to mark the first for using a cellphone jamming device on the transit system.
Photos of Nicholl holding the device on CTA trains had circulated online for months. Police had been tipped to the individual months ago and had obtained his photo. On Tuesday, a team of undercover officers conducting surveillance saw Nicholl enter the Loyola station on the Red Line.
He was arrested a short time later after he switched on the device as an undercover officer near him spoke on his cellphone on a southbound train, according to an arrest report. The officer's call was dropped, the report said.
Nicholl's family members declined to comment, but a co-worker expressed surprise that the financial planner he described as timid and not very social had been arrested.
"He's a harmless guy — he wouldn't want to hurt anyone," said Bobby Chacko, also a financial planner for the hospital.
Nicholl had never been a tyrant about noise around the workplace, according to Chacko.
Robison and another rider who had witnessed Nicholl's antics on the train in the past reacted to his arrest with a mixture of amusement and relief. Both said they had worried that the jamming device would prevent 911 calls from going through or could interfere with CTA's communication systems.
"I think he liked the feeling of being in control of the car," said Robison, who is also an accountant. "It's kind of a digital 'stay off my lawn, you young people with your cellphones.'"
The other rider, Brian Raida, 30, said he was on his morning Red Line commute to his IT job in 2014 when he saw Nicholl on the train holding a device with multiple antennas on top. Suddenly, his phone lost service.
"Everyone was looking at their phones like — what the hell?" Raida said.
Raida snapped a photo of Nicholl with a bulky device on his lap, and it eventually made its way onto social media. He also provided police with the photo and made a complaint that same day, Raida said.
And he confronted Nicholl as he got off the train, telling him, "Hey dude, nice jammer," Raida said.
"He kind of looked at me and grinned," Raida said.
Chicago police teamed up with the FCC and the CTA to track down Nicholl. Armed with a photograph taken by a CTA passenger of the suspect holding in his hand what appeared to be a black electronic device with multiple antennas, an undercover "mission team" set up at the Loyola stop on the Red Line at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
A little more than an hour later, an undercover officer followed Nicholl onto the train. The plainclothes officer situated himself near Nicholl and immediately made a call on his personal cellphone, according to the arrest report.
The officer saw Nicholl remove a black electronic device with multiple antennas from his pocket and push a button on it, police said. The officer immediately lost his signal and the call dropped, police said.
After the train stopped at the Granville platform, Nicholl was taken into custody by officers. He was holding the jamming device in his hand, police said.
Nicholl admitted using the jamming device because "he gets annoyed at people talking on their cell phones while riding on the CTA," the arrest report said.
Nicholl, of the 1000 block of West Loyola Avenue, was charged with unlawful interference with a public utility, a felony.
This is not the first time Nicholl has been charged with jamming cell calls. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in June 2009, according to court records. He was placed under court supervision for a year, and his equipment was confiscated and destroyed.
Robison had some simple advice for Nicholl to make his future commutes on the CTA more pleasant.
"He should just use headphones," he said.
http://i.imgur.com/U1alwkB.jpg
Aaron Robison was commuting home from work last fall on the Brown Line when an older man carrying a plastic bag of Old Style beer took a seat across from him.
The man opened a beer and surveyed the car, scowling as he saw another rider talking on a cellphone a few feet away, Robison said. He watched as the man pulled a clunky black device topped with five antennas from his pocket and switched it on.
Almost instantly, commuters who had been talking on their phones went silent, checking their screens for the source of their dropped calls, Robison said.
On Tuesday, undercover officers arrested the man who had allegedly created his own personal quiet car in recent months with an illegal device he imported from China, according to Cook County prosecutors and Chicago police.
An attorney for Dennis Nicholl, 63, a certified public accountant, said his client wanted only some peace and quiet on his commute from his North Side home to the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, where officials confirmed he works as a financial analyst.
"He's disturbed by people talking around him," attorney Charles Lauer said after a judge set bail at $10,000 while dubbing Nicholl "the cellphone police." "He might have been selfish in thinking about himself, but he didn't have any malicious intent."
Records provided by the Federal Communications Commission show that the regulator has issued citations mostly for people attempting to sell the illegal jamming devices on Craigslist. But in at least one case, a Florida resident was hit with a $48,000 fine for using a cellphone jamming device as he commuted daily around Tampa. The offender told officials he wanted to prevent motorists from using their cellphones while driving.
A CTA spokeswoman said Nicholl's arrest appears to mark the first for using a cellphone jamming device on the transit system.
Photos of Nicholl holding the device on CTA trains had circulated online for months. Police had been tipped to the individual months ago and had obtained his photo. On Tuesday, a team of undercover officers conducting surveillance saw Nicholl enter the Loyola station on the Red Line.
He was arrested a short time later after he switched on the device as an undercover officer near him spoke on his cellphone on a southbound train, according to an arrest report. The officer's call was dropped, the report said.
Nicholl's family members declined to comment, but a co-worker expressed surprise that the financial planner he described as timid and not very social had been arrested.
"He's a harmless guy — he wouldn't want to hurt anyone," said Bobby Chacko, also a financial planner for the hospital.
Nicholl had never been a tyrant about noise around the workplace, according to Chacko.
Robison and another rider who had witnessed Nicholl's antics on the train in the past reacted to his arrest with a mixture of amusement and relief. Both said they had worried that the jamming device would prevent 911 calls from going through or could interfere with CTA's communication systems.
"I think he liked the feeling of being in control of the car," said Robison, who is also an accountant. "It's kind of a digital 'stay off my lawn, you young people with your cellphones.'"
The other rider, Brian Raida, 30, said he was on his morning Red Line commute to his IT job in 2014 when he saw Nicholl on the train holding a device with multiple antennas on top. Suddenly, his phone lost service.
"Everyone was looking at their phones like — what the hell?" Raida said.
Raida snapped a photo of Nicholl with a bulky device on his lap, and it eventually made its way onto social media. He also provided police with the photo and made a complaint that same day, Raida said.
And he confronted Nicholl as he got off the train, telling him, "Hey dude, nice jammer," Raida said.
"He kind of looked at me and grinned," Raida said.
Chicago police teamed up with the FCC and the CTA to track down Nicholl. Armed with a photograph taken by a CTA passenger of the suspect holding in his hand what appeared to be a black electronic device with multiple antennas, an undercover "mission team" set up at the Loyola stop on the Red Line at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
A little more than an hour later, an undercover officer followed Nicholl onto the train. The plainclothes officer situated himself near Nicholl and immediately made a call on his personal cellphone, according to the arrest report.
The officer saw Nicholl remove a black electronic device with multiple antennas from his pocket and push a button on it, police said. The officer immediately lost his signal and the call dropped, police said.
After the train stopped at the Granville platform, Nicholl was taken into custody by officers. He was holding the jamming device in his hand, police said.
Nicholl admitted using the jamming device because "he gets annoyed at people talking on their cell phones while riding on the CTA," the arrest report said.
Nicholl, of the 1000 block of West Loyola Avenue, was charged with unlawful interference with a public utility, a felony.
This is not the first time Nicholl has been charged with jamming cell calls. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in June 2009, according to court records. He was placed under court supervision for a year, and his equipment was confiscated and destroyed.
Robison had some simple advice for Nicholl to make his future commutes on the CTA more pleasant.
"He should just use headphones," he said.