Click here for Adobe Acrobat version
Click here for Microsoft Word version

******************************************************** 
                      NOTICE
********************************************************

This document was converted from Microsoft Word.

Content from the original version of the document such as
headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers
will not show up in this text version.

All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the
original document will not show up in this text version.

Features of the original document layout such as
columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins
will not be preserved in the text version.

If you need the complete document, download the
Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat version.

*****************************************************************



                         Before the
              Federal Communications Commission
                   Washington, D.C. 20554


In the Matter of                  )
                                 )
Louis Gentile                     )           File Number EB-04-
                                 )   PA-083
Philadelphia, PA                  )
                                 )           NAL/Acct. No.  
                                 )   200532400001

                                             FRN 0011588993


                      FORFEITURE ORDER

Adopted:  January 5, 2006               Released:  January 
9, 2006

By the Regional Director, Northeast Region, Enforcement 
Bureau:

I.  INTRODUCTION

       1. In this Forfeiture Order (``Order''), we issue a 
  monetary forfeiture in the amount of ten thousand dollars 
  ($10,000) to Louis Gentile for willful violation of 
  Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended 
  (``Act'').1  The noted violation involves Mr. Gentile's 
  operation of a radio station on the frequency 107.7 MHz in 
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania without a Commission license.  

II.  BACKGROUND

       2. On April 29, 2004, the Commission's Philadelphia 
  Field Office (``Philadelphia Office'') received a 
  complaint about an illegal broadcast station operating on 
  the frequency 107.7 MHz in Philadelphia, PA.  On May 6, 
  2004, an agent from the Philadelphia Office monitored the 
  frequency 107.7 MHz and, using direction-finding 
  techniques, determined that the radio station broadcasting 
  on the frequency 107.7 MHz was operating from 4727 Oakmont 
  Street, Philadelphia, PA.  The agent took field strength 
  measurements and determined that the station required a 
  license to operate.2  The Commission's database contained 
  no record of a station authorized to operate on 107.7 MHz 
  in Philadelphia, PA.  

       3. On May 7, 2004, the Philadelphia Office sent a 
  warning letter to Mr. Gentile, who resides at 4727 Oakmont 
  Street, Philadelphia, PA, by Certified Mail, Return 
  Receipt Requested, advising him that the operation of a 
  radio station on the frequency 107.7 MHz without a license 
  violates Section 301 of the Act.  The letter requested 
  that Mr. Gentile provide a response within ten (10) days 
  of receipt of the letter.  Although the Return Receipt 
  indicates that the letter was received and signed for by 
  Antoinette Gentile, the Philadelphia Office did not 
  receive a response to the warning letter from Mr. Gentile.

       4. During an interview with two Commission agents on 
  June 9, 2004 at 4727 Oakmont Street in Philadelphia, PA, 
  Mr. Gentile admitted that he operated a radio station on 
  107.7 MHz on May 6, 2004 without a license.  

       5. On November 12, 2004, the Philadelphia Office 
  issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to 
  Mr. Gentile in the amount of ten thousand dollars 
  ($10,000) for the apparent willful violation of Section 
  301 of the Act.3  In his response, Mr. Gentile claims that 
  he did not admit to operating a radio station on 107.7 MHz 
  in 2004 and that he has never operated an unlicensed 
  station on that frequency in Philadelphia, PA.  He further 
  states that nothing has ever been found at his house and 
  there could be radio stations operating somewhere else in 
  the vicinity of his house.4

III.      DISCUSSION

       6. The forfeiture amount proposed in this case was 
  assessed in accordance with Section 503(b) of the Act,5 
  Section 1.80 of the Commission's Rules (``Rules''),6 and 
  the Commission's Forfeiture Policy Statement and Amendment 
  of Section 1.80 of the Rules to Incorporate the Forfeiture 
  Guidelines.7  In assessing forfeitures, Section 
  503(b)(2)(D) of the Act requires that we take into account 
  the nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the 
  violation and, with respect to the violator, the degree of 
  culpability, any history of prior offenses, ability to 
  pay, and such other matters as justice may require.8  

       7. Section 301 of the Act states that no person shall 
  use or operate any apparatus for the transmission of 
  energy or communications or signals by radio within the 
  United States except under and in accordance with the Act 
  and with a license granted under the provisions of the 
  Act.  We decline to accept as credible Mr. Gentile's 
  response denying operation of the radio station and his 
  claim that the unlicensed operation could have been 
  ``anywhere in the vicinity of my house.''  Agents 
  determined, through the use of direction-finding 
  techniques, that a station operated on 107.7 MHz from 4727 
  Oakmont Street in Philadelphia, PA, Mr. Gentile's 
  residence, without a license. Contrary to Mr. Gentile's 
  claim that nothing has ever been found at his house, 
  agents observed a radio transmitting antenna on the roof 
  of 4727 Oakmont Street and a coaxial cable going from the 
  antenna on the roof into the basement of the house.  Mr. 
  Gentile provides no explanation for the inconsistency 
  between his contemporaneous admission on June 9, 2004 that 
  he operated the station, which was documented by FCC 
  agents, and his recantation of such admission in response 
  to the NAL.  We therefore find that his statements denying 
  the admission and denying any unlicensed operation on 
  107.7 MHz are unreliable and not supported by the record.  
  Accordingly, we stand by our agents' findings and conclude 
  that Mr. Gentile willfully9 violated Section 301 of the 
  Act.

       8. We have examined Mr. Gentile's response to the NAL 
  pursuant to the statutory factors above, and in 
  conjunction with the Forfeiture Policy Statement.  As a 
  result of our review, we conclude that Mr. Gentile 
  willfully violated Section 301 of the Act.  We find no 
  basis for cancellation or reduction of the $10,000 
  forfeiture proposed for this violation.

IV.  ORDERING CLAUSES

       9. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to 
  Section 503(b) of the Act, and Sections 0.111, 0.311 and 
  1.80(f)(4) of the Rules,10 Louis Gentile IS LIABLE FOR A 
  MONETARY FORFEITURE in the amount of ten thousand dollars 
  ($10,000) for willful and repeated violation of Section 
  301 of the Act. 

       10.     Payment of the forfeiture must be made by 
  check or similar instrument, payable to the order of the 
  Federal Communications Commission.  The payment must 
  include the NAL/Acct. No. and FRN No. referenced above.  
  Payment by check or money order may be mailed to Federal 
  Communications Commission, P.O. Box 358340, Pittsburgh, PA 
  15251-8340.  Payment by overnight mail may be sent 
  to Mellon Bank /LB 358340, 500 Ross Street, Room 1540670, 
  Pittsburgh, PA 15251.   Payment by wire transfer may be 
  made to ABA Number 043000261, receiving bank Mellon Bank, 
  and account number 911-6106. Payment by wire transfer may 
  be made to ABA Number 043000261, receiving bank Mellon 
  Bank, and account number 911-6106.  Requests for full 
  payment under an installment plan should be sent to: 
  Associate Managing Director, Financial Operations, 445 
  12th Street, S.W., Room 1A625, Washington, D.C. 20554.11

       11.     IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this 
  Order shall be sent by First Class and Certified Mail 
  Return Receipt Requested to Louis Gentile at his address 
  of record.

                              FEDERAL         COMMUNICATIONS 
COMMISSION




                              Russell Monie, Jr.
                              Regional Director, Northeast 
Region
                              Enforcement Bureau
_________________________

147 U.S.C. § 301.

2 Section  15.239 of  the Commission's  Rules, 47  C.F.R. § 
15.239, provides that non-licensed  broadcasting in the 88-
108 MHz band is permitted only if the field strength of the 
transmission does not exceed 250  µV/m at three meters.  In 
this  instance,  the  measurements showed  that  the  field 
strength of  the station's signal exceeded  the permissible 
level for a non-licensed low-power station by 1,617 times.  

3Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, NAL/Acct. No. 
200532400001  (Enf. Bureau,  Philadelphia Office,  November 
12, 2005)(``NAL'').

4We do not address here  the concerns Mr. Gentile raises in 
his  response regarding  other unlicensed  stations may  be 
operating in the Philadelphia, PA area.

547 U.S.C. § 503(b). 

647 C.F.R. § 1.80.

712 FCC  Rcd 17087  (1997), recon. denied,  15 FCC  Rcd 303 
(1999) (``Forfeiture Policy Statement'').  

847 U.S.C. § 503(b)(2)(D).

9  Section 312(f)(1)  of the  Act, 47  U.S.C. §  312(f)(1), 
which  applies  to  violations for  which  forfeitures  are 
assessed  under Section  503(b) of  the Act,  provides that 
"[t]he  term 'willful',  when  used with  reference to  the 
commission or omission of any  act, means the conscious and 
deliberate commission or omission of such act, irrespective 
of any intent  to violate any provision of this  Act or any 
rule  or regulation  of the  Commission authorized  by this 
Act...."  See  Southern California Broadcasting Co.,  6 FCC 
Rcd 4387 (1991).

1047 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.311, 1.80(f)(4).

11See 47 C.F.R. § 1.1914.