Police arrest man who posted videos of red light camera tampering

CENTEREACH, N.Y., Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A Long Island man was arrested on criminal tampering charges after he recorded himself using a painter's pole to re-aim red light cameras.

Stephen Ruth, 42, of Centereach, posted videos on his Facebook page showing himself using a painter's pole to aim red light cameras at the sky, rather than at the intersection.

Police said Ruth was arrested Tuesday on four counts of criminal trespassing, with sources telling WPIX-TV Ruth is believed to have used the method from his videos to re-aim four red light cameras in Suffolk County.

"OK, in order to do this successfully, you only need a pair of balls and a painter's extension rod," Ruth says in one of his videos. "I'm going to show you how easy it is to take the power back."

Ruth said in a Facebook post he knew he would be arrested, but he wanted to take a stand for the taxpayers who receive tickets from the cameras.

"Of course I knew I would be arrested. I did it for the people who come back from war and get abused by these cameras. I did it because senior citizens are getting these, the same ones that went to war for us. These same seniors live in New York's high cost environment and are being forced out of New York because of its high taxes," he wrote.

Ruth said in another post he is due in court Oct. 27.