Enumclaw resident Joshua Jay Eixenberger recently pleaded guilty to malicious mischief and possession of stolen property after being arrested in December 2023 for cable theft.

Eixenberger and Kent resident Shane Wendon Israel were arrested on Dec. 16, 2023, after Snoqualmie and North Bend police responded to a call regarding a U-Haul driving back and forth on Elk Fields, located on Railroad Avenue Southeast in Snoqualmie.

The caller mentioned a man in a ditch, situated between the highway and open fields, going in and out of the vehicle.

According to police, when officers arrived, they reported seeing multiple freshly cut pieces of aerial cable in the ditch. Shortly after, the police spotted the U-Haul with two men inside, fitting the initial description.

When the police approached the U-Haul, still in the ditch, they reported seeing around 300 feet of aerial cable — a copper communications cable fitting the exact cable cut in the area — in the back of the U-Haul.

Once the two men were arrested, the police discovered a business card belonging to a regional recycling center in one of the suspects’ wallets.

The police report indicated a potential link between the card and the location where the men were transporting the cables.

According to police, a Comcast security manager estimated the value of the stolen aerial cable at $3,000 per foot. He later noted the estimated cost of damages could reach from $100,000 to $500,000.

Eixenberger was officially charged with first degree theft, third-degree malicious mischief, and third-degree possession of stolen property.

Eixenberger’s trial was scheduled for April 17, but he pleaded guilty to just the malicious mischief and possession charges, with the first degree theft charge dropped on March 25.

Sentencing was on April 11; he was sentenced to a year in jail, but also that he already served his time, so Eixenberger was released on unsupervised probation for 24 months.

Eixenberger has some criminal history with two counts of third-degree theft in 1996 and 2012 and one count of contempt in court in 2020.

Israel also pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree theft and two counts of second degree malicious mischief in August 2024; he was also originally charged with first degree possession of stolen property.

He was sentenced to one year of incarceration and 12 months unsupervised probation.