Big Time Arizona Hoops Fan Arrested On Felony Charges For Hacking A Local Restaurant's Cable Package So He Could Watch Wildcats' Games While Visiting For The Weekend

WISC News - The finance manager of an Illinois car dealership has been accused of pretending to be a Lake Delton restaurant employee in phone calls with a cable company.

His aim, police say, was to change the restaurant’s cable package so he could watch a basketball game when he visited the area for the weekend.

Sauk County prosecutors have charged 51-year-old Kevin M. Cayton of Arlington Heights, Illinois, with felony identity theft for financial gain and unauthorized use of an entity’s identifying information. Each charge carries a maximum six-year prison sentence.

The only surprising part of this story is that it was college hoops and not college football. Also that it was the PAC 12 and not the SEC. But other than that, just another example of college fandom running deep. It doesn’t stop when you graduate. It doesn’t stop when you get married and have kids. It doesn’t stop when you hit middle age and open a car dealership in Illinois. You travel to a different state on business, it’s no excuse to miss your boys play.  And if the restaurant you’re at doesn’t carry the correct channel, you hack into their systems and pretend to be an employee so you can get the PAC 12 channel.

Lake Delton police began investigating in February after the business manager at Buffalo Phil’s noticed a significant increase in the restaurant’s cable bill and contacted authorities, according to the criminal complaint.

The officer eventually obtained 11 phone calls that were recorded by the cable provider, Charter Spectrum, in December.

In the calls, a man who identified himself as Pat Barkley asked to add the Pac-12 channel to the restaurant’s cable package. He mentioned wanting to watch an Arizona Wildcats basketball game later that week.

If the University of Arizona had any pride and loyalty whatsoever they would send Mr. Cayton the best defense attorney money can buy and cover all legal fees.  Make the students pay for that shit too, would be a good lesson on school pride for them.  Cayton is one of our own, and we protect our own.

And, once again…social media was his downfall.

In one of the recordings, the caller allegedly stepped away from the phone and spoke with someone else in the background, saying “Hey it’s Kevin.” In another call, police say, someone can be overheard purchasing a vehicle in the background and explaining that they work a second job at a health care facility in Illinois.

Through social media, the officer learned that Cayton was a finance manager at the dealership, and the only employee named “Kevin.” The officer also contacted Lake Delton hotels, and found that Cayton had checked in at one of them in late December.

Social media posts also helped establish Cayton’s visit to Lake Delton in late December, police say, and that he is an Arizona Wildcats fan.

Social media is the most destructive invention for human beings since the A Bomb. I’m not even joking.

Go Cats.  Free Kevin Cayton.

PS,

The fact that this restaurant manager noticed an increase in the monthly bill and contacted authorities is the most bizarre part of the story. I don’t think I’ve seen a cable bill in 2 years. I just set up auto pay and assume it’s taking the same thing every month. You could hack my bill and sign up for every premium channel that is broadcast on television and I would literally never know.