The Hartford Courant
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A 50-year-old Westbrook man has been arrested in connection with a hoax emergency call at Yale University in November that prompted a massive police response.
Jeffrey Jones was charged with falsely reporting an incident, second-degree threatening, second-degree reckless endangerment, misuse of the emergency 911 system and breach of peace.
He was arraigned Wednesday at Superior Court in New Haven.
“The hoax call prompted one of the largest police responses in recent memory in New Haven, as well as an hours-long lockdown and search of the university,” police spokesman Officer David Hartman said in a press release.
An anonymous person called police from a pay phone at 9:48 a.m. on Nov. 25. The person reported that their roommate was headed to campus with a gun to shoot people, police said.
Officials spent the rest of the day combing through campus — focusing especially on the Old Campus area near the New Haven green — and eventually said they believed the call was a prank.
Police obtained surveillance footage of the pay phone used and identified a potential suspect, who “walked with a distinctive gait,” according to police. On Dec. 6, detectives spotted a man matching the description of the suspect, police said. The man was walking with a similarly distinctive gait, police said.
The detectives approached the man, who “reluctantly” identified himself as Jeffrey Jones, police said. Jones, who had two outstanding warrants, according to police, claimed his leg was injured and he was brought to Yale-New Haven Hospital. He allegedly was aggressive toward hospital security and became angry with the detectives, telling them that they had done nothing about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
“Of note is the Yale hoax was perpetrated on the day the official incident report was released regarding the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting,” Hartman said.
Police obtained a search and seizure warrant for a voice recording from Jones in February. Police said he provided two recordings where he deliberately disguised his voice, but the third was a match to the person who made the 911 call at Yale. Jones turned himself in to police on Tuesday.
Jones was arrested in an unrelated incident in January after he allegedly tossed nails under the tires of New Haven police officers’ personal cars, police said.
Jones also attempted to vandalize patrol cars and unmarked cars, police said. He was charged with criminal attempt to commit first-degree criminal mischief and second-degree breach of peace.The charges are pending.
Copyright 2014 The Hartford Courant
All Rights Reserved