Several comments in the article indicate the reporter's source doesn't know what he's talking about, or the reporter doesn't, such as implying that encryption keys can be downloaded into a scanner. Can't be done. Second, not all radios accept the key, depending on what level of encryption it is capable of functioning under. Third, systems can be programmed as listen-only / transmit inhibit. Nothing illegal about that per se, otherwise all those Amtrak PD radios with the weather frequencies programmed into one bank are Class 5 or Class 6 felonies in Tazewell County. Perhaps if the defense takes good notes and hires a radio expert the prosecution will have an uphill fight in some areas.
Now, if unauthorized transmit/receive frequencies were programmed in a non-listen only manner that's a different matter! However, somehow these guys apparently got the system keys for the trunked system as well, so someone wasn't minding the store well, and perhaps they didn't realize someone would notice when an unrecognized radio affiliated with the system. On the flipside, some if this should mean they got the encryption keys to Tazewell NXDN, which makes me wonder again, who was minding the store? Encryption keys need to be highly protected. As for the comments on VA STARS...most of that is open digital, not encrypted, and except for NXDN, most everything in Tazewell and on VA STARS is accessible by any scanner.
So this article makes me scratch my head, as some of the sources are off-base with their remarks and the reporter needs to be more tech-savvy and ask more questions.