A mild-mannered accountant will think he's a hero of our times in his jacket pocket and pull out a black electronic device with five antennas on top as another passenger starts chattering away on his phone.
Inside an incoming train car on the Chicago CTA's Red Line, the chattering phone suddenly went dead. On Tuesday morning, the accountant enjoyed some calm moments before the chatterbox announced that he was a police officer.
Other plainclothes officers joined the arrests. Accountant Dennis Nicholl, 63, was taken off the train and found guilty of unlawfully interfering with a public service. Its Chinese-made phone jammer has been certified as evidence.
After being held overnight at the Cook County Jail, Nicol appeared in criminal court before Judge James Brown. Nicholl represents someone who fulfils a fantasy shared by many of us who find themselves trapped by annoying phone chatter.
Prosecutor Erin Antonietti pointed out, "Well, a self-proclaimed person."
Some thought Nicole was acting as some kind of vigilante.
In 2013, a real cell phone vigilante named Jason Humphreys was arrested outside Tampa, Florida. After deputies stopped the SUV he was driving, one of the reasons such interference was ruled illegal became apparent.
An FCC report later noted: "Deputies reported that communications with police officers were sent to their...... As the SUV approached, the handheld two-way radio was cut off."
The report continued: "Mr Humphreys admitted to having and using a cell phone jammer in his vehicle for the past 16 to 24 months. An inspection of the vehicle revealed that the cell phone jammer was located behind the seat cover passenger. Mr. Humphreys said he used a signal jammers to stop people talking on the phone while driving.
Nicholl appears to have had his current jammer since at least 2014, when a suburban colleague named Brian Raida happened to see him on an early morning train. Raida and the other passengers' cell phones died.
"Everyone was looking at their phones, like...... What happened?" Raida told the Chicago Tribune.
Raida would remember telling Nicholl, "Hey man, good jammer."
Nicholl reportedly laughed, apparently not thinking Raida had secretly taken a picture of him holding the jammer. In an age when we rely so heavily on our phones, Raida seems to view this interference as an unwarranted intrusion, and perhaps even a danger. He sent the photo to the police, believing that Jammer was not so much a hero as a threat to our times.
"This guy needs to be stopped," Raida said in a later online post.
More complaints seemed to follow, and there was much discussion online. A commuter saw Nicole sitting on the evening train with a bag containing vintage beer. Nicole pulled out the black gizmo with five antennas, silenced every cell phone within 50 feet. Nicol then calmly went home and sipped his beer.
Early Tuesday morning, a so-called "task force" of police and federal agents set up a perimeter around the area where Nicole was found. They found him, and an undercover cop dragged him onto the train. The cop started chattering away on his cell phone, watching Nicole pull out the jammer.
The police phone is dead. Nicole was given a moment's peace before being arrested. He allegedly admitted to police that he knew the jammers were illegal. He said one he ordered earlier was confiscated by customs. He just ordered another one that looks at least similar to the "GG4 Universal 2G, 3G, 4G All Phone Blocker," which sells for $350.99 on sites like perfectjammer.
