The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed financial penalty against a Florida man for his operation of an unlicensed radio station.
Proposing one of the largest penalties in recent memory for unlicensed radio operation, the Commission has proposed a penalty of $20,000 against Sergio Plasencia of Miami, FL. According to a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture issued by the Commission in April, Plasencia had received numerous verbal and written warnings in 2016 from agents at the FCC Enforcement Bureau that his unlicensed station was illegal, and that continued broadcasts could subject him to further enforcement action.
Plasencia was also the subject of a 2010 investigation by Enforcement Bureau agents regarding similar complaints of unlicensed radio operations.
In determining the amount of its proposed fine in this instance, the Commission cited Plasencia’s “deliberate disregard” of its repeated warnings as the basis for the significant penalty.
Read the complete text of the Commission’s Notice of Apparent Liability in this case.
