This public letter on the Internet:

From astro.ocis.temple.edu!neitzert Tue Mar 28 23:05:19 1995 Return-Path: <neitzert@astro.ocis.temple.edu> Received: by astro.ocis.temple.edu (5.61/25) id AA01437; Tue, 28 Mar 95 23:04:42 -0500 Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 23:04:42 -0500 From: neitzert@astro.ocis.temple.edu (Christopher K. Neitzert) Message-Id: <9503290404.AA01437@astro.ocis.temple.edu> Apparently-To: chris@ts6-2.upenn.edu Status: 0 Several friends of Ed 'Bernie S.' Cummings have prepared this press release due to the fact that a man is being held on $100,000.00 Bail for possessing the right electronic components to trick a pay phone into giving free telephone calls. His promotion of these devices is not against any law in the land, however the Governments of Delaware County, Pennsylvania and United States are acting as though their own laws do not matter to them. -- Delaware County Pennsylvania, USA Ed Cummings, also known to many in cyberspace as Bernie SS was arrested on March 13th, 1995 for 2 misdemeanors of possession, manufacture and sale of a device to commit Telecommunications fraud charges. He is being held in Delaware County Prison in lieu of $100,000.00 Bail. His story follows. On the evening of the 13th Bernie S. received a page from his mail drop. Some people he knew from Florida had stopped in at his mail drop thinking it was his address. They were looking to purchase several 6.5 MHz Crystals. These crystals when used to replace the standard crystal in the RADIO SHACK Hand Telephone dialer, and with some programming, produce tones that trick pay phones into believing they have received coins. These are commonly referred to as Red Boxes and got their name from an actual red box pulled from a pay phone in the late seventies by some curious person. Ed Cummings met these people at a local 7-11 where he was to sell the widely used electronic timing crystals for roughly $4 a piece. The purchaser only had two twenty dollar bills and Ed Cummings no change. Ed Cummings went into the 7-11 to get some change to make the transaction. A police officer noticed a van parked in the parking lot of the 7-11 with several African Americans inside. As Ed was leaving the 7-11 he noticed fifteen police cars pulling into the parking lot of the 7-11. Next thing he knew the police were asking him if they could Trifle through his car. He said no. Moments later as he was talking to a Detective and noticed another police officer going through his car. He asked the officer to stop. They did not, in all the police confiscated a few hundred 6.5M Hz crystals (which he resells for roughly $4 a piece) and a large box of 100 dialers. The police told him they would get back to him, and he could have his electronics back if the contents of the bag were legal. In the contents of the seized items was one modified dialer, that a customer returned after modification explain- ing that it did not work, a broken red box. The next day Ed 'Bernie S' Cummings was over at a friend's house working on their computer when eight to ten plain clothed armed men burst into the house and ordered him and his friends to freeze. They cuffed him and took him to a hold- ing cell(what jail?). There he was left without a blanket or jacket to sleep with in the cold cell. That evening the Secret Service had been called in when someone figured out what the dialers and crystals would do when put together. The United States Secret Service found his home and entered it, while they were questioning him. The next morning at his arraignment he was finally told of the charges he was being held upon. They were Two misde- meanor Charges of manufacture, Distribution and Sale of devices of Telecommunications Fraud. and Two Unlawful use of a computer charges. His bail was automatically set to $100,000.00 because Ed Cummings refused talk with the police without his attorney present. The Secret Service presented to the judge a 9 page inventory of what they had found in his home. On that inventory there 14 computers. 2 printers. Boxes of bios chips for the systems he worked with. EPROM burners which the Federal Agents had labeled Cellular telephone chip reprogramming adapters. EPROMs are used in everything from Automobile computers to personal computers. They also confiscated his toolbox of screw drivers, wire clippers and other computer oriented tools he used for his consulting job. The Judge dropped the Two unlawful use of a computer charges due to the fact that the evidence was circumstantial and the county had no actual evidence that Ed had ever used the computers in question. As of 3/27/1995 Ed Cummings is still in Delaware County Prison awaiting his trial. His trial has not yet been scheduled and Ed will most likely not raise the One Hundred Thousand Dollars needed to be released on bail. If anyone has any questions or comments direct them to this newsgroup and my email box. Thanks. Christopher K Neitzert -- christopher k neitzert neitzert@astro.ocis.temple.edu Film and Video Student InterNetworked Multimedia Design, Implementation and Administration office: 215.467.3001 Fax:215.467.3412 Service: 215.505.6637 *Coming Soon to this space: Chapel Perilous Project Velcro!* Support Your Local Free Net! Linux: Choice of a GNU generation! http://astro.ocis.temple.edu/~neitzert "When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl." -jpb Finger for PGP2.6 or RIPEM Keys. Opinions here are not those of temple university nor my clients.

Got this threat from the cops: