FCC Affirms $42,000 in Fines in Radio Jamming Case

NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 2, 2005--The FCC has affirmed a total of $42,000 in additional fines against reputed Los Angeles-area radio jammer Jack Gerritsen, ex-KG6IRO. The FCC released the two $21,000 Forfeiture Orders (NOF) just days before Gerritsen is due to appear in federal court to stand trial on a felony charge of malicious interference with a communications system operated by the United States and a misdemeanor count of transmitting radio signals without a license, according to a statement earlier this year from the office of Debra W. Yang, US Attorney for the Central District of California. If convicted, Gerritsen, 68, could spend up to 11 years in federal prison. In affirming the fines, the FCC again turned away every argument Gerritsen offered in responding to each Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL), including a "freedom of speech" claim.

"His unlicensed operation on amateur frequencies is not protected by the US Constitution as it is well established that the right to free speech does not include the right to use radio facilities without a license," the FCC said in a footnote in one of the NOFs. Both documents include detailed recitations of the charges and allegations in the case.

One of the $21,000 forfeiture notices involves alleged willful and repeated malicious interference with Amateur Radio communications. The second NOF focuses on alleged willful and repeated interference with the radio communications of a US Coast Guard Auxiliary officer attempting to use Amateur Radio frequencies to assist a sailboat in distress. Last March, the FCC upheld a $10,000 fine against Gerritsen for interfering with Amateur Radio communications. The government has yet to collect.

FBI agents, accompanied by FCC staff, arrested Gerritsen without incident last May at his home in Bell. Federal agents also seized his radio equipment. Gerritsen was released on a $250,000 property bond and has remained in home detention, barred from possessing any radio equipment, while awaiting trial. Yang's office said the FBI "received substantial assistance" from the FCC in the case.

Gerritsen's history of radio-related legal problems go back to 1999 when the California Highway Patrol arrested him for intercepting, obstructing and/or interfering with police radio communications. He was convicted the following year. Shortly after granting Gerritsen's application for a Technician class Amateur Radio license in 2001 and issuing him the call sign KG6IRO, the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau rescinded the grant because his earlier conviction raised questions about his qualifications to be a licensee. While transmitting on various Los Angeles-area repeaters, Gerritsen continued to identify as KG6IRO, however, claiming the FCC could not take away his license without a hearing.

Radio amateurs on the West Coast complained for months about the slow pace of enforcement action in the Gerritsen case. Los Angeles-area repeater owners had taken to shutting down their machines to avoid the nearly constant barrage of malicious interference attributed to Gerritsen.

Gerritsen's trial gets under way Monday, December 5 in Room 850 of the Edward R. Roybal Courthouse, 255 E Temple Street, Los Angeles.

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