Many residents throughout the Portola Valley said they lost internet, phone or cell service for days. The reason: a series of copper wire thefts.
Since February, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office has received five reports of copper wire and cable theft on Portola Road and Alpine Road and 11 throughout the county.
The Sheriff’s Office recently arrested at least one copper wire theft in Portola Valley after the Sheriff’s Office “provided valuable resources to investigate the latest theft,” said Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker.
Loss of service from downed trees and storms has been a long-standing issue in the city, but cable theft is a more recent problem, residents said.
“For months, all of us have been suffering with utilities, internet, cell service and local services,” resident Rita Comes said during the March 25 City Council meeting.
He told The Almanac that the time he spent trying to contact these companies with his service was “time I will never get back in my life.” Back in December, AT&T’s Internet was down for about 20 days, Comes said.
In order to have consistent service, Comes was signed up to both AT&T and Comcast for the past seven years. It wasn’t until two weeks ago that he finally canceled his AT&T service due to chronic outages.
“The problem is that AT&T management is unavailable and no one has any information,” said Janet Davis, a local resident. During the outage last month, he spent 11 days without phone and internet, before it was restored on March 31.
Davis said he wants to see San Mateo County officials be more responsive about the issue.
Portola Valley isn’t the only one with string theft on the rise. Cases of phone disconnection and vandalism are a growing problem across the state.
Last year, Attorney General Rob Bonta spoke about the prevalence of copper theft and issued a law enforcement notice covering federal laws related to copper wire theft and the obligation of recyclers to report information about copper transactions.
“While the value of copper is still high, we can expect that it will continue to be the target of theft and vandalism, unless we intervene now and do something about it,” Bonta said in a press release in 2025. The Department of Justice of the state is ready to support local law enforcement and work together to make criminals responsible for their crimes, he added.
Last month, San Mateo County deputies responded to a burglary on Feb. 2 involving approximately 500 stolen cables near the intersection of Santa Maria Avenue and Portola Road in Portola Valley. On Feb. 3 another incident of 200 feet of stolen wire was reported in the 4200 block of Alpine Road. On Feb. 9, approximately 200 feet of cables were reported taken from the 600 and 700 blocks of Portola Road.
In the release, city staff said the Sheriff’s Office is using license readers from Portola Valley’s Flock during the investigation. The cameras are located near Alpine, Portola and Page Mill roads.
The city has also requested that the Sheriff’s Office conduct extra patrols during the morning hours, when incidents are most common, “in an effort to deter operations and apprehend those responsible,” Portola Valley officials said in a city update on March 25.
When the lines are down, residents who rely on cell phones are unable to contact emergency services. Comes said there are many areas in the Portola Valley that have limited cell service available. Some older households in the area don’t have the resources to support internet service or renew electrical appliances, he added.
“For a cell phone, it involves a lot of pinging towers, and we don’t have towers in our beautiful town, so I’ve always had a cell phone because I feel it’s important for emergency services,” said Comes.
Portola Valley has a Cable and Utilities Undergrounding Committee established in 1991 but inactive as of 2021. The group was formed to address cable service issues and oversee the city’s efforts to use underground cables and improve access to high-speed internet.
Comes asked the city to reinstate the utilities committee and suggested that it serve as a point of contact between the city and companies such as AT&T, PG&E, Verizon and Comcast.
“I think we have to work harder when there is a crime to notify the city, so that there can be one point of contact at the highest level to call these companies, instead of having 40 citizens trying to reach someone on the phone,” he said.
AT&T has admitted to an “alarming increase in copper theft” in California, northern Texas and Missouri. In 2025, AT&T alone had 3,380 copper thefts in California – a significant increase compared to the 71 reported in 2021.
In California, the company is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of cable thieves or anyone trying to sell or buy stolen phones.
By 2025, AT&T created a strategy to prevent copper crime and prevent theft by increasing network hardening efforts with remote security improvements, easier marking and painting on copper wires, and monitoring and sensor technology.
The Sheriff’s Office said it is actively contacting AT&T and Comcast to resolve these issues. Portola Valley city staff confirmed in its update that it has been in talks with AT&T, too.
City officials are asking residents to report suspicious activity involving service calls or vehicles parked on the road overnight to the Sheriff’s Office’s emergency line at 650-363-4911. Law enforcement officials are asking citizens to review their body camera footage and report any relevant information to the Sheriff’s Office. Anonymous tips can be made by calling 800-547-2700.
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