Active: Early 1970s

Working a loophole in the system to his advantage, Jerry Neal Schneider employed the telephone to steal thousands of dollars worth of products from the Pacific Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company. He ordered at will, never paying for the products—until two of his employees blew the whistle on his illegal operation.

A phone fanatic

By the time he was four years old, Schneider was shy and overweight. Growing up he had no real friends. Other children called him “fatso.” He loved telephones and by the time he was ten, he had built a telecommunications system in his family’s home. A few years later, he received a telephone repair worker’s belt and hat—so that he could pretend to be a repair man. Talented in science, Schneider won prizes at science fairs. First a ham radio...