Michigan Billboard Plays Porn For 30 Minutes After Pair Breaks Into Shack, Hacks Computer
Commuters driving on Interstate 75 near Michigan Highway 59 were in for a bizarre view on Saturday night as a digital billboard along the interstate played pornographic video.
The video played for almost half an hour before being taken down by the billboard company when alerted by the police.
The incident took place after two masked intruders broke into the building under the billboard which houses the computers that control the display. The house was unstaffed according to Auburn Hill police and was surrounded by a 6-foot fence.
"In this particular incident, we had a local billboard basically run by a system onsite that is not staffed, which creates the perfect storm for someone to access it," Auburn Hills police Lt. Ryan Gagnon told NBC affiliate WDIV.
The offenders were caught in the surveillance video for a few seconds before one of them moves the camera away. They are seen wearing hazmat suits and glasses in the video.
According to the police, the suspects were white men and appeared to be young. They crossed the fence surrounding the building and entered the shack to upload the videos to a laptop. They left the shack after 15 minutes.
Police started receiving calls about the pornographic video playing on the billboard around 11 p.m. Authorities went to the site and witnessed the video, after which they contacted the company to take it down.
The billboard is owned by Triple Communications, a subsidiary of Triple Investment Group, the owner of Pontiac Silverdome stadium. Representatives of Triple Communications were in touch with investigators.
"I was just looking up at it and I was like, 'Huh, oh, wow. That's porn,'" driver Chuck McMahon told WDIV. "It was very bizarre. I thought maybe it was a billboard for a strip club or something."
The crime was originally treated as a misdemeanor, but after the emergence of the surveillance video, it is being treated as a felony by the police.
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