By Mark Todd
Star Beacon
CONNEAUT, Ohio — A pair of phony calls to 911 emergency dispatchers — at least one of which officials believe was a prank — resulted in police responses in Conneaut and Orwell over the weekend, according to reports.
Police Chief Charles Burlingham said he believes the Conneaut incident was part of an elaborate prank known as “swatting,” in which a scary-sounding — but ultimately fake — call sends police to the home of an unsuspecting victim.
Conneaut police received a call at about 4 a.m. Saturday from a man who said he had just murdered family members, wired his home with explosives and was demanding money to free hostages. The 911 system gave the address as a local mobile home park, Burlingham said.
Aware of a similar incident reported earlier in the evening in Orwell, police responded in a controlled manner to the address and quickly determined the call was a hoax, Burlingham said.
“A guy in the trailer said someone was pranking him,” he said.
The police are investigating but have no suspects at this time.
In Orwell, members of a Special Weapons and Tactics team were mobilized when a caller also reported a murder, only to find the emergency was bogus, according to reports. Orwell Police Chief Chad Fernandez could not be immediately reached for comment Monday afternoon.
Swatting is a practice that has become prevalent over the past few years, the FBI reports on the agency’s website. Callers use sophisticated technology that allows them to mask their phone number and substitute another at 911 dispatch centers. When police arrive at the address, they usually encounter confused — and sometimes frightened — people inside, according to the FBI.
Perpetrators, who can live hundreds of miles away, often know the victim through Internet video gaming sites and other online contacts.
“Sometimes swatting is done for revenge and sometimes as a prank,” Kevin Kolbye, assistant special agent in the FBI’s Dallas office, said on the agency’s website. “Either way, it is a serious crime, and one that has potentially dangerous consequences.”
In one instance, a police officer was injured in a car crash en route to a fake emergency call, Kolbye said. Also, some people have suffered heart attacks upon seeing police converge on their property, he said.
“The bottom line is that swatting puts innocent people at risk,” Kolbye said on the website.
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©2015 the Star Beacon (Ashtabula, Ohio)