A Centereach man known as the "Red Light Robin Hood" was arrested Monday evening after he admitted to once again damaging red light cameras in Suffolk County.
Stephen Ruth, 43, was arrested just hours after a CBS 2 report was published in which Ruth said he had damaged dozens of the cameras over the weekend.
“I cut the cable wires, making it useless,” Ruth said, according to the report. “I’ve made it dysfunctional, just like the whole red light camera program.”
At 8:36 p.m. Monday, Ruth's son posted the following on his father's Facebook page: "Hi this is Stephens son. My father was just arrested at our house by detectives after being chased by them. He escaped them but when they came to the house he honorably turned himself in because he isn't doing anything wrong. He's just trying to help people and save lives."
Ruth is accused of cutting wires and manipulating equipment on 18 red light cameras across the county on Saturday and Sunday, police said. Ruth also cut down a red light camera pole at County Road 83 and Old Town Road in Coram on Jan. 18, police said.
Preliminary estimates put the damages at a cost of at least $25,000, police said.
Ruth is charged with two counts of second degree criminal mischief, a felony, police said. If convicted, Ruth faces up to 7 years in prison on each count. He will be arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday.
Ruth's arrest comes just days after Newsday reported that nearly half of the intersections that have red light cameras in Suffolk have seen an increase in accidents. Suffolk County Legis. Robert Trotta, R-Fort Salonga, has called for the suspension of the county's red light camera program, which brought in $28 million in revenue in 2014, according to WSHU.
Trotta said red light cameras are "taxation by citation," CBS 2 reported.
<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/9383283/">Should Suffolk County's Red Light Program Be Suspended?</a>
<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/9383283/">Should Suffolk County's Red Light Program Be Suspended?</a>
Ruth was also arrested last August after he tampered with red light cameras in Ronkonkoma, pointing them upward so that they could not capture violators. Ruth posted a YouTube video of himself tampering with the cameras and encouraging others to do the same. That video has been viewed more than 150,000 times.
“I’m going to show you how easy it is to take the power back,” Ruth says in the video. ”It doesn’t take more than a minute and the gratification is huge.”
After he uses an expandable pole to push a camera skyward, he boosts, “I just saved people about $10,000 today.”
A St. James man apparently also not happy with the red light program put plastic bags over two red light cameras in Smithtown on April 1, police said. Bryan Valentine, 26, is charged with two counts of second degree criminal tampering.
