BALTIMORE, Md. – Maryland State Troopers have arrested a New York man on charges of telephone misuse, false reports of crimes and telephone harassment following a series of phone calls to emergency operations centers and state police barracks in Maryland.
Bobby Collins, 31, of the 600 block of Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn, New York was arrested Sunday morning in Baltimore shortly after he called the Baltimore City Police Department to make a false report of a crime. He is currently being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on a $150,000.00 bond. Warrants for his arrest have been filed in three other Maryland jurisdictions.
According to police, in late March, a man began repeatedly calling different law enforcement agencies and emergency operations centers in Maryland. The caller made abusive and rude comments to the call-takers, demanded to talk to police officers then threatened the police officers with bodily harm.
On April 2, the man called the Howard County 9-1-1 Center and taunted police, claiming that he had just seen a trooper get shot on Interstate 95 near Route 175. Law enforcement agencies dispatched personnel into the area, but after a lengthy investigation involving numerous personnel, the call was determined to be a hoax. The suspect repeated the hoax in two other Maryland jurisdictions, each time requiring large contingents of troopers and officers to respond before agencies could determine that he had perpetrated another hoax.
Between March 29th and April 2nd, the suspect placed 84 calls to 9-1-1 centers in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York. The suspect called the Baltimore City 9-1-1 Center 253 times between March 31st and April 22nd. Troopers uncovered records which showed that the suspect was responsible for more than 380 calls to law enforcement agencies and 9-1-1 centers in four states.
On Sunday, troopers closed in on Collins. Shortly after midnight, police say he called the Baltimore City Police Department to report that he had just seen an officer get shot near Division Street and Robert Street. As officers converged on the area, a trooper observed the suspect in a car on Reisterstown Road and arrested him with the assistance of a Baltimore City police officer.