For a while now I've been receiving free cable. How? Well, I had subscribed to cable internet so decided to add cable tv (it was only $2 more). Prior to this I had never had cable tv and was watching tv on bunny ears. I had the cable for about a year and decided to cancel it to get dsl being that it was half the price. I called in and cancelled my cable internet and tv. On the day that they were suppose to cancel my service the internet was out but the tv still worked. I called in again a few days later to make sure that I cancelled both and that I wouldn't be charged for the tv (alone it would cost $12). They said someone would be out to fix it. In the meantime I reconnected the bunny ears and watched that (bunny ears provided 6 channels and cable had ~15). Anyway, I watch it for about a month and decided to see if they actually disconnected my tv service or not. I've come to realize that rather than disconnecting it they added more channels. It stayed that way until earlier this year when all of a sudden my cable went out. I assumed since I got new neighbors they must have called to get cable service and while the guy was on the pole realized they misconnected mine. So I went without cable for about a week then all of a sudden I got cable again. I guess I should mention that the city has been replacing the electricity pole in front of my house for the past couple of months or so and I realized they had just installed a new metal pole next to the new wooden pole. They old pole is still there, so basically we have 3 poles there now.
This morning 2 police officers and a representative from the cable company come to my house and say that I have been stealing cable. I was shocked. I knew I shouldn't have the service but I never knew I would get in trouble for a mistake they made. Anyway, the guy asked me a bunch of questions including.. after it was disconneted who reconnected it? I told him many people have been climbing the new pole to install the electrical wires and whatnot so I don't know. He asked me why I never called to inform them of this and I just said that I called to cancel and they gave me more channels. It's not my fault but it's true that I never called them about the mistake they made.
Now they are taking me to court. The paper the guy gave me said that I can be fined up to $1k without any jail time. The police officer told me to plead innocent since I did call to cancel originally and that it was their mistake. I'm concerned now b/c after the cable company corrected their mistake it was reconnected. By whom? I have no clue, but since so many people have been up that pole I'm assuming that someone thought they knocked something loose and decided to reconnected it. I don't know but I'm worried about what will happen.
If I plead guilty I will have to pay a fine. If I plead innocent I will have to pay lawyer fees and whatnot. And in either case if I plead, or am found to be, guilty it will go on my record as a misdemeaner. Can anyone please provide some advice as to what I should do?

