A. It shall be unlawful for any person to connect or attach or cause to be connected or attached, any kind of pipe, wire or other contrivance to any pipe, fire hydrant, line, wire or other conductor or appurtenance thereto, carrying gas, water, electricity, television signals, telephone signals or other conveyances provided by or belonging to a public utility (whether publicly or privately owned) in such a manner as to enable such person or other persons to receive, consume or use gas, water, electricity, television signals, telephone signals or other utility service without the same passing through a meter, without obtaining the proper permit, without paying the required fee or in any other manner so as to evade payment for such public utility service.
B. It also shall be unlawful for any person to damage, tamper with or destroy any pipe, line, wire, meter or any other part of any public utility, including cable television, water, gas, electricity and telephone and telegraph systems.
C. If any meter, pipe, line, wire, fixture or other installation or appurtenance thereto provided by a public utility primarily for the purpose of serving a particular account is found to have been tampered with or altered in violation of Subsection A of this section, the person or other customer whose name appears on the records of the public utility affected as the person or firm responsible for payment of such account shall be held prima facie responsible for such violation. In addition to a potential criminal charge for tampering with utilities, consumers and/or property owners shall be billed the actual cost for any repairs and/or replacement of damaged equipment and/or appurtenances and the costs thereof and all other charges, fees, penalties, interest, etc., owned on the account must be paid, in full, prior to any utility services being restored to any property. All delinquent charges assessed to a property must be paid in full prior to reinstatement of any utilities services to a delinquent property.
D. Any act which, if uncorrected, would result in any utility customer being billed or charged by such utility for a lesser amount of utility service than actually furnished shall be deemed in violation of Subsection A hereof.
E. Conviction for violation of this section shall not affect the offenders civil liability for damages done to facilities or responsibility to pay for gas, water, electricity, television signals, telephone signals or other utility service used but not paid for.
F. Anyone convicted of a violation of this section 13.12.111 shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than ninety (90) days, or both.
(Ord. 553, 2017: Ord. 445 (part), 2003)