Unusual marks on Western Electric 30C — from picking tool?

[prevariikation]

I recently bought a 30C without any keys. It came from the southern California region, and when I really noticed the scratches on the casing, it reminded me of the payphone thefts by James Clark. He was likely the only person to use his tooling/techniques, and as talked about at the end of Matt Blaze's teardown, there were no other known successes in non-destructive entry until ∅'s success in 2020.

My question is, has anyone seen similar marks on other Western Electric locks, and is it known what marks were left by Clark's tools? I would be pretty excited if this lock may have been field-picked back in the day.


I also hope this doesn't cross any lines; I know these locks are still in use but I'm more interested in the potential history of this lock.

[Publius]

Interesting bit of history -- I wasn't familiar with James Clark's exploits, but somebody should make a movie about this guy ("Call Me If You Can"?)... Suspect given this is a phone lock that any specifics would be restricted to the Advanced section, but I was curious enough to do a little digging and see if I could find any more details -- even searched PACER for any court records, but I unfortunately I don't think the U.S. courts have records digitized going back to the '80s. Nothing in the contemporary FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin newsletters, either. Quite a few newspaper articles did mention a unique scratch-mark pattern that supposedly helped tie Clark to some specific thefts, but no info beyond that on what made them distinctive. I assume the FBI and the various Baby Bells had little interest in publicizing any clues to exactly how he pulled it off and apparently he died in 2012, taking his secret with him. Interestingly, it seems to have been an anonymous tip to the Bureau, and not forensics, that initially ID'd him as the infamous Pay Phone Bandit, but he still managed to elude capture for a few years, staying in cheap motels and paying with neatly rolled quarters. Quite a character, right up there with D.B. Cooper.

[prevariikation]

Thanks for looking through records! Not surprising that there's no public info, so I guess I'll never know.. would be an excellent fictionalized series for sure.