Posted on 12/31/2002 12:10:30 PM PST by Cagey
EXETER - What began as a night of routine prank phone calls for four local teens ended with their arrest after they called the Stockbridge Funeral Home and reported an alleged murder.
Jonathan Stevens, 17, of Durham; Curtis Ouelette, 17, of Newmarket; Matthew Pilar, 19, and his brother Miles, 17, of Lee, were all arrested on Dec. 20 by Lee Police on charges of harassment and criminal liability, Lee Police Chief Chet Murch said.
They were all released from police custody on $500 personal recognizance bail and will be arraigned in Durham District Court on Jan. 22, 2003.
"What started out being teen prank calls ended up being a pretty serious event," Murch said.
Through phone company records, police were able to trace a phone call at 1:15 a.m., Dec. 8, to the Pilar’s home phone in Lee, Murch said.
The teens allegedly called the Stockbridge Funeral Home in Exeter, but because of the late hour, the call was transferred to Stockbridge’s home phone.
When Stockbridge answered the phone, he was told, "There’s been an accident. I’ve just killed my wife."
"He said that he and his wife spent most of the night up worrying about where the call had originated from. It was definitely a believable thing to make Mr. Stockbridge pretty nervous," Murch said.
The teens had reportedly come up with the idea to start prank phone calls that night after listening to a compact disc purchased from the Internet that contained numerous prank calls, Murch said.
"That’s what they had been listening to," the chief said. "At that point, they all decided to open up a phone book and start making the calls."
The teens allegedly called Store 24 in Durham and asked them what time the store closed.
"The whole night, they made many calls," Murch said. "I think they thought they had a great time, the phone calls actually continued the following morning."
But they "definitely stepped it up a level from where normal prank calls had taken place" when they called Stockbridge, Murch said.
The incident was initially reported to Exeter police, but then Lee police took over, once the calls were traced to the Pilar’s residence. When Lee and Durham police responded to the house a few days after the phone call, they followed procedure as if there may have been a murder, Murch said.
"We were pretty concerned at the time prior to entering the residence," the chief said. "We actually made a phone call and talked to Mrs. Pilar on the phone."
She had been away for the weekend when the prank phone calls allegedly took place and was unaware of the situation, police said.
Once in custody, the teens had no real explanation for the calls.
"A couple of them thought it was a stupid thing they had done; a couple of them appeared to be unaffected by the arrests," Murch said.
The charges facing the four are all Class B misdemeanors and punishable by up to a $1,200 fine.
Harassing people and reporting false felonies is ONLY a $1,200 fine?!?!
FMCDH
But that is a lot different from calling someone and "confessing" to a murder. Teens don't always have good judgement; that is why they are not concidered adults. But they should have known better.
Happy New Year!
FMCDH
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