HOW: Dialing Disaster: Florida Man Arrested for Stalking After Placing 16,000 Emergency Calls, Targeting Neighbor 647 Times
Samuel Lee Thomas, a 72-year-old resident of St. Petersburg, Florida, was arrested for stalking and filing a false police report after investigators determined he had made over 16,000 calls to the 911 emergency line in the last five years, with 3,400 of those calls occurring in the first five months of this year alone. A recent call, in which Thomas falsely reported an AR-15 rifle being fired in the street, led police to a family barbecue. The targeted neighbor, Anqunette Peterson, 34, stated the calls had resulted in “hundreds of interactions with the police” and severe emotional distress. Thomas was released on a $1,500 bond and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
