By Dan X. McGraw and Rachel Slade
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — A 31-year-old Dallas man has been arrested on allegations that he made at least 235 prank calls to police and fire-rescue services since April, authorities said.
Davaris Griffith used the city’s emergency services to harass family members and neighbors who made him angry, Dallas Fire-Rescue Capt. Sam Stephenson said.
He made calls from his home phone, pay phones and cellphones to ask for unnecessary help for relatives and acquaintances at three locations in south Oak Cliff and West Dallas, fire officials said.
“The bottom line is he was lashing out at his family, but in the wrong way,” Capt. Stephenson said.
Fire officials said Mr. Griffith told them that he is a paranoid schizophrenic. But when reached at his mother’s house Wednesday, Mr. Griffith said he is not mentally ill and did not make any false reports.
“I’m not crazy,” he said. “They are just saying I am because they don’t want to work the cases.”
Mr. Griffith said he complained to authorities because he believes his sister and two cousins have taken nude photos of him and posted them on the Internet. Authorities have refused to investigate his claims, he said.
Family members could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
According to fire officials, family members believe Mr. Griffith had been making false 911 calls and police reports for at least a year. Fire officials said their investigation stretched back to April.
At first, the calls were for minor matters, such as noise complaints. But around July 4, Mr. Griffith began making reports of more serious incidents, such as fires and a shooting.
Once the false fire reports added up, arson investigators played tapes of the calls to Mr. Griffith’s family members who lived at the locations of the false reports. Those witnesses identified Mr. Griffith.
Capt. Stephenson said Mr. Griffith’s complaints appeared to be legitimate to fire and police dispatchers. The department is used to getting false calls and didn’t link the reports until investigators began reviewing the 911 tapes. Mr. Griffith attempted to change his voice in the calls.
“He didn’t want to sound crazy, because he wanted dispatchers to believe him,” Capt. Stephenson said. “But he knew what he was doing was wrong.”
Authorities issued a warrant for Mr. Griffith’s arrest, but they couldn’t find him until he made three false reports of a fire in a single day.
Mr. Griffith was arrested Aug. 4 on eight misdemeanor charges of filing a false report. If convicted, he could face 180 days in jail for each count.
He was released from the Dallas County Jail four days later on $4,000 bail, said Kim Leach, a Dallas County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.