PHOTO: According to trial testimony, in the span of approximately 11 days in early 2014, DeShields made 52 calls to 911 and stated there was an emergency at 89th Avenue and 161st Street. Each call was bogus. Photo Courtesy of Google
By Forum Staff
A Jamaica man has been convicted of falsely reporting an incident when he called 911 more than 52 times to report phony emergencies.
“Emergency responders rushed to the location where the defendant reported the emergencies, each and every time resulting in both a waste of time and resources. The false calls also put lives at risk by preventing firefighters and other rescuers from responding to real emergencies,” said District Attorney Richard Brown.
Ronald DeShields was convicted last Wednesday of seven counts of second-degree falsely reporting an incident, nine counts of third-degree falsely reporting an incident, and one-count of second-degree reckless endangerment. Sentencing is scheduled for May 3. DeShields faces 20 years in prison.
According to the trial testimony, between Jan. 30, 2014 and Feb. 10, 2014, DeShields made 52 calls to 911 and stated there was an emergency at 89th Avenue & 161st Street. The emergencies included claimed police-involved shootings, as well as a fire in an apartment building where residents were trapped inside. Each time emergency personnel were dispatched. After an investigation, DeShields was located and arrested. At the time of his arrest, DeShields was in possession of the phone that was used to make the false calls, Brown said.
