Ladies and gentlemen, the documented story you will hear during the next 30 minutes is
not a subject commonly discussed.
It is a criminal problem that is not yet nationwide, but it's a problem which is growing rapidly.
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your city.
The story you are about to hear is true.
Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Fatima, best of all king-size cigarettes brings you dragnet.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned to bunko detail.
You begin to receive reports of a vicious new racket growing in your city, the television
repair racket.
The repairman lie, overcharge, bill you for work not done, for parts not needed, for parts
they don't install.
Your job, stop them.
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Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime.
For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will
travel step-by-step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official
police files.
From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force
in action.
It was Monday, January 19th.
It was overcast in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of bunko detail.
My partner's Ben Romero, the boss is Captain McCauley.
My name's Friday.
It was 9.15 a.m. when we got to the third floor of the Los Angeles Daily News, the Assistant
City Editor's Office.
Hi, Friday.
Come on in.
Sit down.
Good morning, Jack.
I'd like you to meet my partner, Ben Romero.
Ben, this is Jack Canette, staff writer for the Daily News.
How are you, Canette?
Glad to know you, Ben.
Sit down, fellas.
Thanks.
We just left the skipper over at the City Hall.
Did the captain brief you on this thing?
Yeah, he gave us a partial, Phil, and we've been working on it from our end about two weeks
now.
Oh, Paul Price, he's our radio TV editor.
Paul and I had a long session with Captain McCauley yesterday, and I guess now we're
all ready to move on this thing, huh?
We'll do everything we can.
Would you like to fill Ben in on what you told me yesterday on the phone?
Yeah.
I told him about the one who began getting the first complaints here at the paper.
Tremendous number of his readers wrote in complaints about being victimized by crooked
television repairmen.
About being charged too much for repair?
Partly, yeah.
Some of the people even sent in receipts with their letters.
Said they felt the guys who fixed their sets were dreaming up unnecessary repairs, charging
them for work not done.
Some said they knew they were billed for parts not even replaced or installed in their sets.
Ben, Jack told me yesterday about a letter he got from some man who said he felt he'd
been overcharged and he just started to bellyache about it.
Yeah, a fellow by the name of Vincent.
Said he just put up an old fashioned squawk about it and the repairman brought the price
down at least one third.
That doesn't sound very good, does it?
We kind of figured operators like that must have too many repair sets on hand that their
customers can't afford to bail out.
That's why they cut.
Sounds like a clear case of a two bit jip, doesn't it?
Well, something's got to be done about it.
We're ready to give a big play in our paper, expose the fraud for what it really is.
Captain McCauley says Chief Parker's okayed our plan and we can count on full police cooperation.
That's the way we got it, Jack.
We were told to work with you people till we broke this thing.
Fine.
I had a little ammunition to start with, I think.
Went around and interviewed about 15 different television repairmen in various neighborhoods
and about three out of five gave me the same pitch.
Well, did they know you were with the newspaper?
No, I told them I was a factory representative for a new kind of Roswell Co. cider company
and I was taking orders.
Actually, I dropped in the different stores, shot the breeze with them and they didn't
seem to get wise.
A couple of them even placed orders for the cider.
And what'd you find out?
Well, I just wanted to try and get the general attitude of some of these jip artists and
I really got an earful.
One of the last places I hit was a tiny little hole in the wall out near Canoga Park.
As I say, about two out of five are honest, hardworking repairmen and this fellow was
one of them.
What are you getting at, Jack?
For a while this fellow worked for a guy that employed about five men in his shop.
Yeah.
Finally quit him because he didn't like the way this big operator did business.
The fellow's in the next office.
I want you to hear it from him just as I got it.
Excuse me.
Yeah, okay.
Hank, will you come in, please?
Sure, Mr. McCauley.
This is Hank Coulter, Sergeant Friday, Sergeant Ben Romero, Police Department.
How are you?
Hank, I wonder if you'd tell these officers a little of what you told me about Kilgore
TV Specialists.
All right.
Now, suppose I'm a customer and I come into Kilgore's.
I don't like the size of my repair bill.
What were you instructed to say?
Well, we generally tried to talk him out of any complaint.
Suppose I complained about all the multiple charges.
I wanted an explanation of the work you did.
What then?
You just tell you that it wouldn't do any good to explain.
You wouldn't understand all the technical stuff anyway.
Tell us Kilgore's attitude with the customer.
You mean about the loose wire stuff?
Yeah, please.
Well, Kilgore used to tell us if we only charged 50 cents for fixing the loose wire, the customer
wouldn't believe we really fixed his set, so we used to charge quite a lot more.
Well, how much more, for example?
For nickels worth of wire, we'd usually charge $4.75.
Pretty fair profit.
It's a real rob.
What else can you tell us, Hank?
Well, we never let a customer watch any of the TV repair jobs.
For example, if a customer calls us as he thinks a tube's blown out and it'll only be
a simple replacement job in his home, we'd tell him the parts are getting hard to get
and we'd have to take his set into the shop and charge him a higher rate because we had
to pay black market prices for the tube.
Was there any truth in that?
I mean about the tubes being hard to get?
Not much.
Some of them are getting a little hard to get, but we never paid any black market prices
at Kilgore's.
We just slugged the customer, that's all.
Tell me about how you used to swap parts on a new set, Hank.
Well, we'd lots of times pirate a new tube for one notch of good.
One notch of good we'd put in a set with a bad tube.
Yeah.
And the bad tube we'd exchange at the factory under one year guarantee.
Yeah.
They don't miss an angle, do they?
Well, that's it, you've heard from a man who couldn't stomach such practice and quit,
went into business, a little bit of a shop, isn't doing too well, are you, Hank?
No, but I think I can build up the business.
I don't make quite as much profit as Kilgore's, but I don't chisel my customers either.
Thanks a lot, Hank.
I wonder if you'd wait in the next office for me?
Sure.
Hope I've helped a little bit to crack down on some of these guys.
Well, we think you have, Hank.
Thanks a lot.
Nice to meet you.
Right, see you later.
See you later.
Seems like a nice fella.
Yeah, he is.
I've checked on him and I've talked with some of his customers since I met him.
He's honest.
It's a pretty vicious racket, isn't it?
Yeah, it ought to be stopped now.
Television's a wonderful medium of entertainment.
A lot of the country doesn't have it yet, but when the cable goes through and it finally
opens up, the people should know about the swindlers and crooks who try to jip them.
Yeah, that's right.
It's the same way when radio first came in.
Always seems like when anything new comes along, anything a little complicated, maybe
a little too involved for the average guy, a few smart punks victimize him.
Rob the consumer blind.
Well, naturally, we've got to have some positive evidence before we can file a complaint with
the city attorney on this thing.
Yeah, you fellas, any ideas where to start?
Well, the best way to crack down on these crooked operators is to catch them red handed
with evidence and hold up in court.
Yeah.
We think maybe we've got an idea.
We were talking to Dick Saunders over in our sound lab and he says that he can bungle a
new TV set and we can mark it and photograph it before it goes out to be repaired.
And when it's returned or after it's fixed, well, that's what we need to go to court on,
huh?
Yeah, that's it.
We can operate right out of one of our own homes.
And all we have to do is hope the repairman overcharges us or tries to jip us.
Yeah, that's right.
We hope it works.
Well, from what we've heard, it's got to.
Ten a.m.
The staff writer, Jack Connett, Ben and I drove back downtown.
On the way, it was decided that we'd use Connett's home as the place from which to operate.
It was centrally located and in an average neighborhood.
When we got back to our office, we contacted one of the local television dealers and asked
for the loan of one of their sets.
They recommended Kay Halbert because the chassis is easily accessible and any trouble could
be located quickly because parts are visible.
A 16 inch Kay Halbert console model was sent to our sound lab.
Ten eighteen a.m.
We met with Dick Saunders, our police lab technician.
Here's the set.
A 16 inch console model.
Serial number is C2817901.
What have you done to it, Dick?
Well, first off, I tested the set and it performed perfectly.
It's a good set.
Brings in a fine picture, see?
Twenty.
Test pattern's fine, huh?
Yeah, it's good.
I tested all the tubes, all OK.
How are you marking the set?
Here, I'll show you.
Get a tube out of here.
Now, if you look closely here at the base of the socket, see it?
What's that?
This is it, isn't it, Dick?
A little tiny dot of green paint.
Yeah, that's right, Ben.
I'm marking every part of this set with this tiny green dot.
Looks good.
If I didn't spot it, I doubt anyone else would, especially if they didn't know about it.
Yeah, that's what we're hoping.
In addition to this type marking, we've taken all serial numbers off the tubes and various
parts, anything that carried any form of coating we took down.
All major components have been marked, transformers, coils, condensers, tuning units, so on.
Did you get any pictures of it?
Yeah, we did.
Took photographs of the set in and out of the cabinet.
Took them from four different angles just to be sure we were well covered.
Well, how did you bungle it?
Well, here's what I did.
To put the set out of commission, I burned out the filament of the 5U4G low voltage rectifier
tube.
What's the cost of that particular tube, Saunders?
Well, this tube ordinarily retails for $1.65.
Well, what does that do to the set?
I mean burning out the tube.
By burning out that filament, we cause the sound and picture circuits to be completely
inoperative.
It won't work at all until that particular tube is replaced by a good one, isn't it?
That's right, Joe.
Well, how big a job would it be to trace the trouble?
Well, it could easily be detected by casual observation or by noting that the tube normally
very hot is cold.
How much time would you say it would require to make a repair like this?
Oh, I'd estimate not over half hour would be required to place this set in operating
order.
Half hour?
Okay, thanks a lot, Dick.
Are you going to take care of getting the set out of the cadet's home right away?
Yeah, we have his address right here.
We'll get it right out.
All right, fine.
If you can, try to get whoever repairs this set to give you an itemized bill of all work
done and parts installed.
All right.
In case you call more than one outfit today, here's an extra bad 5U4G tube.
Thank you, Dick.
Anything you'd like to know?
No, I think that about covers it for me.
Jack?
One more thing.
I was just wondering if somebody spots the trouble right away and replaces the tube,
what do you think they ought to charge, Dick, labor and all?
I checked through RTA on it this morning.
They said to make a house call and replace the defective tube should not exceed $4.50.
Okay, thanks.
That does it for now, huh?
Yeah, I guess so.
Well, you're all set then.
Think we'll get what you're after?
Well, we should.
The plans are all on our side.
10.30 a.m., Monday, January 19th.
We left the sound lab on West 1st Street and walked back to Bunko Division.
We met with Captain McCauley and filled him in.
We gave him the newspaper man, Jack Kinnett's address, and told him he could reach us there.
The console model television set was delivered to Kinnett's home and properly installed.
When we arrived at his home, we started going through the yellow classified section of the
phone directory.
We made a list of several TV service stores, just picked at random.
We chose a wide variety.
We picked stores that were listed with large boxed-in ads, stores that carried no ads,
just a listing.
Ben called two places and staggered the call so that the repairman would arrive about one
hour apart.
It was 11.30 a.m. when the first man made his service call, Bart's TV Experts on Hollywood
Boulevard.
It took him 45 minutes.
It was 12.15 when he left Jack Kinnett's home.
Must have been one of the two out of five, huh?
Yeah, he seems okay.
I wonder if I could see that bill, huh?
Oh, here you go, Joe.
Thanks.
It looks okay.
Replace 5U4G tube, $1.65.
Service charge, $2.50.
Total charges, $4.15.
That kind of bears out Kinnett's thinking, doesn't it?
Remember when we asked him how many men work in his shop and said he's alone?
Yeah.
I think you'll find that's a pretty good barometer.
All the servicemen working alone aren't like this guy, but the bigger percentage of the
honest ones are.
What does the next one do to arrive, man?
Any minute now.
Called a place by the name of Cheney's Video Repairs.
They're over on Beverly Boulevard.
Had a big ad.
Looks like a pretty big outfit.
Oh, here's that other defective tube that Dick gave us.
Yeah, better get it in the set.
Yeah.
Well, let's see.
Here we are.
5U4G.
Okay, here you go.
Thanks, Joe.
Here's a new one the guy put in.
Got it.
Okay.
I'll get this back on again.
Okay?
Yeah, fine.
Better turn it on to make sure it's not working.
I got it.
How about the tube, Ben?
Can you see?
Is it lighting up?
No, not yet.
I pushed the set back against the wall.
Well, we better leave it on for a while, Jack, just to make sure.
Yeah.
There we are.
I gave you the other tube.
Yeah, I got it right here in my pocket.
Right.
I'd like to try something.
If you fellas think it'll be okay.
What's that, Jack?
I got a good little camera, like a 3F, you know, candid.
I think maybe if I turn all the three-way lamps up to full, there's a AAA fast film
that's in the camera now, maybe we can grab some shots of the guy while he works.
What do you think?
Well, if you're careful, don't let him get wise.
Maybe you ought to shoot some of all of us just so he doesn't think anything about it.
Yeah, that's what I figured.
I'll just sit down on that chair over there by the set, make him think I'm just testing
or something.
I think I can bring it off without arousing any suspicion.
Okay.
If I get anything, the guy's out of line, we'll run the shots in the daily news.
What do you figure I'm doing, Jack?
You're going to run a series on the TV repair racket?
Yeah, that's the plan.
Lee Payne, he's our executive editor.
He thinks it's high time somebody exposed the swindle in the paper.
That'll be the next service, man.
I'll let him in.
Right.
Better turn off the set, huh?
Yeah.
Television repair?
That's right.
I'm from Cheney's in Beverly Boulevard.
Oh, yeah.
Come on in.
Thank you.
What seems to be the trouble?
We don't know.
The set's right over here.
Oh, thank you.
Kay Halbert, huh?
16-inch, nice set.
What seems to be wrong?
I don't know if I know, son.
Nothing seems to work.
How do you mean?
No picture at all.
How about sound?
Nothing.
Uh-huh.
It'll be all right to pull the set away from the wall?
Sure.
Go right ahead and give me a hand.
Oh, no, it's all right.
I can handle it.
Well, I'll make some tools out of it.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
I'll get the tools out.
How long you had this set?
Oh, about two, three months.
A little dark in here.
I wonder if we could have a little more light.
Sure.
Let me get these lamps up for you.
Oh, thanks.
How's that?
Oh, fine.
Thanks.
Say, that's a nice little camera you got there.
What kind is it?
A Leica 3F 1.5 lens.
Uh-huh.
I've been experimenting with some new indoor film.
You mind being a guinea pig?
No, it's all right with me.
Shane away's good film on me, though.
Think you're gonna get anything in this light, Jack?
Maybe.
Worth a try, anyway.
I don't know about this set.
What do you mean?
Well, it looks bad.
Hard to tell without getting it down to shop.
Looks to me like your blocking transformer's gone.
What's that mean?
Well, I have to take the set in.
Can't fix it here, huh?
No, I'm afraid not.
You see, parts are getting a little hard to get these days.
Set manufacturers are having a tough time getting quality parts, and sometimes we have
to spend several hours just tracing the trouble.
Well, I guess that knocks out the ball game tonight, huh, fellas?
Sorry.
Take a couple of days, at least.
I want to really check it over.
Sure it's not a tube.
We kind of thought just a tube blew out.
No, that's what most people think every time their set goes out.
It's definitely not a tube.
Well, there might be some bad tubes, but your trouble's a great deal more than that, I think.
Have you got any idea what it's going to run us?
It's hard to say right offhand.
Four or five dollars?
No, it's going to run more than that.
I'll take the set in with me now, and I'll get it back to you as soon as possible.
You're going to take the whole set?
No, I'll just pull the chassis out of the cabinet, leave the cabinet here.
Oh, say by the way.
Yeah?
If everything turns out, I'd sure like to see those pictures.
Yeah, if everything turns out, you will.
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Thursday, January 22nd, 930 a.m.
The TV set was returned to reporter Jack Kinnett's home after having been repaired by a servicing
company called Chaney's Video Repairs.
We found that the man who had come to Kinnett's home to make the service call was Robert V.
Chaney, the owner of the service outfit.
Well, as soon as the set was returned, we called the sound lab and had it picked up
and taken downtown.
Sergeant Marshall Zeno, who was working with us out of bunko detail, called and said that
Dick Saunders had finished his investigation and wanted to see us right away.
1030 a.m.
We went down to West 1st Street, the police sound lab.
Saunders went over his findings with us.
Here are the photographs before and after.
Before we go over these, let me show you what we found out about your repair job.
Okay.
Over here.
Here's that receipt Chaney gave you when he returned the set.
Yeah.
Here's what the repair bill states, replaced vertical blocking transformer, replaced 5U4G
tube, 6AU6 tube, and 12AU7 tube.
And the charge was $32.50.
Plus 98 cents tax, or a total of $33.48.
How does that break down, Dick?
It appears that the 98 cents tax was for $28 worth of material used in the repair.
Did they really put in all that stuff?
You got yourself a prize package in that outfit.
All they did was to replace the 5U4G tube.
That's all they did, huh?
Yeah.
Here's the capper.
The 5U4G is a war surplus tube, but it works okay.
What else did you find?
According to the photographs and coding system, no vertical blocking transformer, 6AU6 tube,
or 12AU7 tube were replaced.
Let's get back to the photos here.
You can take these along for your package.
Thanks, Dick.
You can see in the set here.
Yeah?
Let me show you.
You see, this tube is the only part mentioned in the receder otherwise that doesn't carry
our green paint coding system.
Uh-huh, yeah.
Let me turn the set around here.
All right.
Joe, try the channel selector here.
What, this?
Yeah.
That's the tuning knob to bring in the stations.
Channel selector, they call it.
Turn it.
Okay.
Falls off pretty easy, doesn't it?
It sure does.
Here, Dick.
Thanks.
They left out the spring clip in here.
It should have been put back in because that's what holds the knob secure to the shaft.
I've had that happen on radio sets.
Yeah, sometimes they're a little stubborn to put back in, but a good repairman never
leave it out.
Yeah.
Something else here.
Turn the set around in the back again.
No, I'll get it, Dick.
Oh, thanks, Ben.
You see here?
You see how loose the chassis is in the cabinet now?
Yeah, it sure is.
Wasn't that way when we got it from the Kay Halbert dealer, any more than the channel selector
was faulty.
In perfect shape from the guy.
Look at the size of that chassis.
That's pretty heavy.
Yeah, it is.
Originally, there were four screws used to hold the chassis in the wood cabinet.
Chaney's repair outfit only put one back in.
One screw to hold that heavy chassis.
It's a pretty sloppy job, all right.
You know what they'd probably tell you if you asked them about this.
That only requires one screw.
Yeah, that's it.
The bad repairman can always improve on factory standards, usually for his own convenience.
Certainly doesn't improve the product.
Well, it looks like we got what we were after.
Think we got enough, Joe?
I do.
Let's see what the city attorney thinks.
We collected all the evidence in the case against Chaney's video repairs.
We met with Captain McCauley and took it up to the second floor of the city hall.
We met with assistant city attorney Boyd Taylor and showed him our findings.
He issued a warrant for the arrest of Robert W. Chaney, charging him with violation of
section 484 PC, one count.
1130 AM, Thursday, January 22nd.
Ben and I drove out to make the arrest.
Jack Connette went along with us.
This is it, Chaney's video repair.
Yeah, come on, Jack.
There's Chaney behind the counter.
Yeah.
Hello there.
Hi.
How's the set working?
All right.
We did a good job on that one.
Gave you a better break on the price than I thought we could.
Yeah, police officers, you're under arrest.
Are you kidding?
What for?
Petty theft.
Come on, let's go.
Petty theft?
Well, I don't understand.
You're the fellows I fixed that set for up on Crescent Drive, aren't you?
That's right.
Your bill was a little high, wasn't it?
Oh, now, wait a minute.
If that's all that's bothering you, let's talk it over.
Come on, let's go.
Look, I can fix that up with you guys.
Just tell me how much you want to pay and we'll work out something.
Well, it seems to be the way you worked our repair deal right from the start, doesn't
it?
Only you didn't consult us about it till now.
Well, look, you know how it is in this business.
If you don't charge some customers a little money, they don't think you did anything to
their sets.
You ought to try charging them for just the work you do.
Can't we get together on this thing?
Let's just forget the whole deal.
You don't owe me anything.
Now, here.
Here, I'll refund all your money.
We'll call it squared.
Never mind.
Just leave the money in the cash register and get your code.
Can't prove anything anyway.
We think we can.
Just step around the counter this way.
Look, mister, you're not a cop, are you?
No, I'm not.
Well, then tell them it's not a fair deal.
I'll give you back your money.
I'm afraid it's a little late for that, Cheney.
If all this gets in the papers, I'll be ruined here.
Run out of business.
That's the way we got it figured.
How many men you have working here for you?
Four, why?
This, right here.
You ever read this?
Well, what is it?
Oh, the thing from the RTA.
Here.
Read Article 2, would you?
2?
Yeah, that's right.
I'll conduct myself and my business in an honest and straightforward manner, meriting and
inspiring the confidence of my customers.
Yeah, I know about this.
You're a member of the RTA, Radio Technicians Association, aren't you?
Yeah, I am.
Read Article 4, would you?
I propose to charge a just and fair price for all professional services rendered.
Now read this Article 7.
I will engage only in fair and ethical practices recommended and approved by the Radio Technicians
Association as being conducive to public confidence.
Yeah, I've read all this before.
It's too bad you didn't remember it.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
On April 15th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 82, City and County of Los
Angeles, State of California.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
And now here is our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you.
Friends, this week I'll be seeing you from page 8 of Life Magazine, this week's Fatima
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Ladies and gentlemen, in the few remaining moments, we'd like to take this opportunity
to thank you once again for your many kind letters of encouragement that come in from
week to week.
And also, we'd like to answer a few questions about our program, which seem common to many
of the letters that we receive from you.
Many of you have inquired why at the end of the program, in recounting the punishment
of the criminal involved in the particular case, we generally refer to the sentence received
as the term prescribed by law.
Well, we use this reference for the following reason.
In the state of California, the length of a convicted criminal's prison term is not set
by the court, but by the state adult authority.
Most of the time, a criminal is merely found guilty by the court and then sentenced to
the state penitentiary.
After he serves a year in prison, the convict has a hearing before this state adult authority
at which time his actual sentence is set.
So you can see why we can't give you the actual sentence in many cases.
Now, other questions common to many of your letters concern some of the authentic technical
police terminology which comes up from time to time on Dragnet.
With the help of George Fenomen, we'd like to explain some of the more common ones for
you if we may.
First, you've heard us use the term or the letters APB.
APB, that's an all points bulletin, a communication dispatched to all divisions and law enforcement
agencies throughout the state.
And then we feel sure that you remember the term mama sheet.
A mama sheet is the master information form on a criminal in a police department file.
It contains his complete description, his habits, relatives, acquaintances, everything
about him known to the police.
Thank you, George, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your very fine letters from
time to time.
If we may, we'll take this opportunity to explain a few more of our authentic police
terminology.
Thank you.
Robert W. Cheney, owner and operator of Cheney's Video Repairs, was tried and convicted on
several counts of violating Section 484 PC petty theft.
He was fined $200 and received a sentence as prescribed by law.
Petty theft is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months.
Ladies and gentlemen, Dragnet wishes to thank the Los Angeles Daily News and its feature
writer Jack Kinnett for their valuable assistance in preparing this case for presentation.
It is our combined belief and knowledge that not all television repair servicemen are dishonest
and unscrupulous in their practices.
A great percentage of these technicians are forthright and conduct their business in strict
compliance with the code of ethics.
It is these men who, when informed of the unfair conditions that exist in their trade,
who drive the dishonest and crooked from their profession.
You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police, W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police
Department.
Fatima, best of all, king-size cigarettes, has brought you Dragnet, transcribed from
Los Angeles.
It's the Silver Jubilee on NBC.
For 25 years, NBC has been bringing you the very best in radio entertainment.
And now to another exciting story on Counter Spy, coming up on NBC.