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Prank 911 calls agitate Winnebago authorities

Police Car LightsFOREST CITY – An unknown culprit is being sought after Winnebago county emergency dispatchers received a series of prank 911 calls Monday and Tuesday.

According to the Winnebago County Emergency Notification Network (WCENN), on Monday, September 8 at around 3:36 PM, disptchers received five 911 prank calls from “what sounded like a small child.” Their mapping system located the call on Indian Avenue in Forest City.

On the afternoon of September 9 at around 3:10 PM, dispatchers received seven 911 calls. The mapping located these calls in front of the Forest City Elementary School.

“A small child’s voice could be heard on most of the calls; there was giggling, repeating the dispatcher’s words and asking for a fire truck and then saying no just kidding,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday evening.

WCENN said that these calls came from a cell phone that has been disconnected. However, by law, they can still dial 911. According to the cell phone company, the phone in question was a pre-paid phone.

WCENN said the agency “takes disruption to our 911 system seriously, these calls are fun and games to children but they can interrupt real life and death emergency calls. Please talk to your children about the seriousness of making prank calls to 911. If you suspect you know who may be making these calls please take action to stop this from happening again. We recommend keeping old cell phones out of the hands of children. Your help is very much appreciated.”

Iowa code 718.6 deals with false reports to or communications with public safety entities.

1. A person who reports or causes to be reported false information to a fire department, a law enforcement authority, or other public safety entity, knowing that the information is false, or who reports the alleged occurrence of a criminal act knowing the act did not occur, commits a simple misdemeanor, unless the alleged criminal act reported is a serious or aggravated misdemeanor or felony, in which case the person commits a serious misdemeanor.

2. A person who telephones an emergency 911 communications center knowing that the person is not reporting an emergency or otherwise needing emergency information or assistance commits a simple misdemeanor.

3. A person who knowingly provides false information to a law enforcement officer who enters the information on a citation commits a simple misdemeanor, unless the criminal act for which the citation is issued is a serious or aggravated misdemeanor or felony, in which case the person commits a serious misdemeanor.

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