http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/06/fakecalls.ap/index.html
Very nearly unbelievable ignorance. They should determine if anyone died in this timeframe that could have been saved from a quicker response from 911 services, and charge this fuck with murder.
You know, when my siblings and I complained of boredom, my mother would always find some chores for us to do. This guy needs someone to do that for him.
But yeah, this is just about unbelievable.
Geez. That’s 23 (okay, 22.9999999997…) an hour, or one every 3 minutes.
What a flaming asshat.
Over two days?
Don’t they dispatch police to the location the call was made from in situations like this? How could he have made more than 50 before they kicked down his door?
Reminds me of when Lisa had to baby-sit Bart. He made phone calls to 911 for a sisterectomy, a case of severe butt rot, and a leprechaun bite. Of course, he just didn’t call 911: he also called a sub shop, a pizzeria (I think), the ambassador to Ghana, and Krusty the Klown ("I’m not leavin’ till I get paid. I get 500 just for “Hey! Hey!”)
It was on the frontpage of yesterday’s Gainesville Sun.
I never realized all that is Florida until I moved out of home and went to college. I’m still appreciating it all.
According to the CNN story he’s being charged with felony extortion. If they can make it stick, maybe the sonofabitch will be less bored trying to ward off Big Bubba the Gainesville Butt Buddy for about two to ten.
I was watching a TLC program about paras and they said that if they respond to a prank call and someone died in the same time and they were not able to help them, then the pranker would get charged with manslaughter.
Kids, don’t fuck with 911. It’s not there for your entertainment.
Stupe,
If they were cell phone calls, (and it appears over 800 one night were ) they can just check the home address. If he isn’t there, tough. IIRC, there have been initiatives to require cell phone providers to be able to ascertain user location within a certain tolerance but they’ve fought it off as technologically unfeasible (aka expensive) . In the aftermath of 9/11, only 2 vendors could provide 67% location within 100m. So if you’re driving in Florida, go off the road, and vanish in the swamps, and try to call out, they can’t triangulate and send help. I’ve fallen off the road and I can’t get up!
Of course, you’re Canadian, YMMV.
(not a FL bash. That grandmother got lost in the swamps there, IIRC, and if you drove off a mountain in CO, you probably wouldn’t be able to call…)
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/bonus/qa/2001/10/23/cell-phone-tracking.htm
Once arrested, did he get his phone call?
To clear up the cell phone detail, he was using 3 deactivated phones, which can still be used to call 911 but don’t have any account information. They figured out who he was by what he said about his former run-ins with the police and what the officer he’d dealt with looked like.
In related news, is there always this much synchronicity between SDMB and Fark?
Advice: If you must do prank calls, use Microsoft tech Support. That way, no one is getting harmed. You can also use 1-800-FLOWERS. They deserve it anyway.
I knew it! I knew someone would try doing this.
If he is found guilty, I hope he is made an example of. I hope he goes to prison and gets a “Hard 10” - no parole, no early release, 10 years. Fucking with emergency services like this is not cool. :mad:
Nooooo! The last time I called them, I had to re-install OS/2!!! “No one getting harmed” - my ass! 
The story at CNN left out some of the other details.
And he was fucking 20 years old! Good God Almighty, I thought it was some punk KID!!!
If he gets locked up, it should be with a constantly ringing phone.
I’m sure that calls to emergency services seem much more funny and acceptable to idiots now that Denis Leary called Animal Control on “Crank Yankers” and told them he was being attacked by a monkey, then when they asked if they should call 911 he said YES and then hung up.
That pissed me off SOOOO MUCH.
They should break his dialing fingers. Asshole.
20 years old can be a punk kid…especially in the south, where you can find 20 year olds still in high school!