By KWMU/AP
St. Louis, MO. – A former Charter Communications vice president has pleaded guilty to inflating the cable company's subscriber numbers.
James Smith, III, appeared Tuesday morning in federal court in St. Louis.
Smith is the third top executive to plead guilty in the case that was investigated by the U-S Postal Inspection Service and FBI.
The company's former chief operating officer goes to trial next month.
The executives allegedly instructed employees to delay disconnecting customers. That led to the inflation in subscriber numbers.