Between February 12th and March 16th this year, 911 started receiving call after call from the same apartment building in Queens: a pregnant woman going into labor; an elderly person falling and getting a head injury; a caller announcing that he had a bomb strapped to his body. There were over 30 calls in just over one month, all traced to 82-24 135th Street—and now prosecutors believe they've found a 47-year-old Queens man who is responsible for the hoax calls.
Kenneth Campbell was arrested by fire marshals on Wednesday, and yesterday, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced that he's been charged with five counts of making a terroristic threat and 29 counts of falsely reporting an incident.
His hoax calls also included reports of gas leaks, electrical emergencies, bombs on the roof of his building, and, in one case, a threat to throw bombs at fire and police officials, according to prosecutors.
"In more than 30 instances, emergency responders rushed to the defendant's apartment building, resulting in both a waste of time and resources," Brown said. "The false calls could have also put lives at risk by preventing firefighters and other rescuers from responding to real emergencies."
Campbell has allegedly admitted to making the calls, telling officials that "my uncle is verbally abusive to me and the sound of sirens calms him down."
He also admitted to changing his voice when making the calls, and often using payphones or other people's phones, according to the DA's office. A source told the Daily News that in one instance, he adopted a Middle Eastern accent and told 911 that he was with Saddam Hussein and had a bomb.
A judge has reportedly ordered a medical and psychological evaluation.
Campbell is being held on a $20,000 bail, and is set to appear in court on April 7th. If he's convicted, he'll face up to seven years in prison.
