Cops: Driver Makes Fake 911 Call to Avoid Ticket

For 90 glorious minutes, it was a brilliant scheme. And then it became another entry in the annals of dumb criminals. Police in Naples, Florida, say a driver pulled over for speeding called 911 to report shots fired—with a wounded person to boot—as the deputy ran his information in the patrol car. It worked: The deputy sent driver Jonathan Paul Rorech on his way without a ticket and raced to the shooting scene, reports the Naples Daily News.

When the deputy discovered there was no shooting, he dialed the number on the 911 police report—and got Rorech's voicemail, notes KTLA-TV. Then he drove to Rorech's apartment and arrested him. Instead of a mere speeding ticket, Rorech found himself jailed on misdemeanor charges of making a false 911 call. (More 911 call stories.)