Man prank calls sheriff’s office more than 7,000 times in 4 months, California cops say

A 48-year-old man accused of making thousands of prank calls to a sheriff’s emergency response division since April has been arrested, California officials reported.

The Rialto resident made more than 7,000 “non-emergency spam” calls to the sheriff’s office since April using an “unknown” number, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

“The calls were annoying and harassing and prevented staff from quickly attending to other legitimate emergency calls,” the sheriff’s department said.

He was arrested July 22 on charges including annoying and harassing calls to emergency lines, public nuisance and interfering with emergency services, officials said.

“The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department emergency phone systems are to be used in cases of emergency only, and abuse of any phone systems will be taken seriously as it prohibits law enforcement from performing their duties,” the department said.

Investigators believe the man may also have made harassing calls to other emergency services lines in the region, sheriff’s officials said.

They ask anyone with information to call 909-387-3727 or leave an anonymous tip at 1-800-782-7463.

San Bernardino County is about 120 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

This story was originally published July 30, 2023 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Man prank calls sheriff’s office more than 7,000 times in 4 months, California cops say."