AP News, October 18th, 2007
A man being extradited to California this week has been accused of making a bogus emergency call in March that prompted police to storm a house and handcuff a couple at gunpoint before everyone realized the call was a hoax.
Identifying the caller who hacked into the Orange County 911 system took months of investigating, authorities said. Randall Ellis, 19, was arrested Friday in his hometown of Mukilteo, Wash., and has waived extradition, the district attorney's office said.
Authorities said he randomly chose Doug Bates' home address in Lake Forest and entered false information into the 911 system before he impersonated a caller, saying he had killed someone in the house and threatened to shoot others.
SWAT teams converged on the house with a helicopter, dogs and assault rifles as Bates, his wife and children slept the night of March 29.
Mistaking noise outside for a burglar, Bates grabbed a kitchen knife and checked the backyard only to find deputies facing him down with assault rifles. He and his wife were handcuffed at gunpoint until authorities determined the report was fake.
"It was just a horrifying experience," Bates said. "You think you feel safe in your own home. We had no idea what was going on."
Ellis faces five felony counts, including assault by proxy and false imprisonment, as well as a misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime.
"It's not a prank," district attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami said. "People's lives were in danger."
A representative for Ellis couldn't be located. The teen's phone number was unlisted and authorities could not say whether he'd yet retained an attorney.
