Catholic radio station in El Centro vandalized

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA) - John Paul 2 (JP2) Catholic Radio's 95.7 FM in El Centro and 93.3 FM in Brawley went off the air earlier this week after an intruder allegedly cut into an electrical cabinet at the station’s tower site, apparently to steal copper wiring.

The damage disrupted power to the transmitter building, but the transmitter itself remains undamaged.

Raul Caro, JP2 Catholic Radio founder and president, expressed regret over the disruption and urged local leaders to address the growing problem of copper theft, emphasizing its impact on essential community services.

"There's three big electrical wires that feed electricity to our equipment and equipment for AT&T and other cell phone companies. I came here early Monday morning to see why our station was off the air," Caro told News 11. "This was open. There was a tarp covering this. And I looked inside and all these wires were cut. I think they were probably trying to steal a little bit of copper, probably not worth too much."

Caro said that he caught someone in the building and called the police. The police however did not find the wires on the suspect and let him go, according to Caro.

Rick Lopez, a candidate for El Centro City Council showed up to support the station. He said homelessness and theft have been an issue in the area for a long time. He said the homeless population should be taken care of, but there is a distinction between a homeless person and someone who commits crime.

"For a number of years, we've had a large problem with homelessness here in El Centro. And we've got encampments throughout the city. And which is actually, you know, a lot of these homeless, they resort to breaking into buildings to sleep," Lopez said.

Offering a solution to the growing problem, he said, "Once we have, in my opinion, we have a day shelter, a night shelter, managed campground, we can actively enforce the anti-camping rules that the ordinance the city currently has. We do have one, but it's not being enforced."

"I really urge our civic leaders and civic organizations to really start fixing this problem, because, you know, it's just it's just this causes damage to the community. People rely on our signal to feed themselves spiritually. And so this is not this is not acceptable," Caro added.

Both stations will remain off the air until electrical service is repaired and confirmed safe, and no restoration date has been announced.

In the meantime, listeners can continue tuning in through jp2radio.com, or the free JP2 Radio app.

The network's San Diego County stations, 93.7 FM and AM 1450, remain operational.