t-money
Member
Howdy,
Not sure if this is the right area to post this in, I’ll rely on the mod’s discretion. – Also – sorry for the long post.
I need some advice on how to handle a situation that my family is in. Because there are a number of LEO’s here and a bunch of very smart, sane people, I could really use your advice. Let me first give you some history. This whole situation started about Last October. Here is the scoop:
I was away on a week long backpacking trip last October and as I was coming home, I used my cell phone to call my wife and find out how the family was doing in my absence. She said something to the effect of “well, you know how something strange always happens when you are gone†and she proceeded to tell me that she had been receiving harassing phone calls. They started on Friday night about 11:00 pm, and the caller would call and then when my wife (Jen) picked up the phone, they would just sit there on the open line. After she would hang up, the person would call right back and then sit on the line. Jen said some times she could hear the television in the background. She used the *69 feature on the phone to get the number. So she could tell that it was the same number each time (no, it wasn’t blocked). Sometimes, the person would let the whole answering machine play, and then hang up. Then he would call right back. Well, even though we live in Golden, it scared her pretty good. (We also have a 3 year old little boy) .She isn’t real big on firearms, and doesn’t know much about them, but she said that if she had known what to do/where to find/how to load one of them/ she would have had one right by her. – as a side note, Jen is very practical (a structural engineer), and she isn’t prone to get overly excited about something, or too worked up. She finally ended up with one of my mountaineering ice axe’s by her bed.
Well, it didn’t sit too well with me, but by the time I got back, the calling stopped. So we kind of forgot about it, and just chalked it up to some high school kid prank or something. Then one night about 2 weeks later, I came home from work and went directly into the bathroom to work on a plumbing problem that we had and sure enough, we got the phone calls. I mention the bathroom because I was out of sight of any of the window in the kitchen/living room/dining room, etc. When I picked up the phone, I kind of lost it, and told the silent caller that in no uncertain terms that if he continued to harass us, he’d be suffering an acute case of lead poisoning. (I know, very bad, I shouldn’t have fanned the flames, but I’m very much the kind of person that when my family is threatened, I go into cornered animal mode)
That night we called the police. They came over, took a report, and said that they would call this ‘caller’ and tell them to stop. The police asked us if we had any enemies. I said no. I pretty much live peaceably with everyone. I teach Sunday School at Church, I don’t have any shady business practices, nothing like that. Jen is in school to get her masters in education and wants to work with lower income children. So for the most part, we do our best to be good members of society. We guessed that this person got our number from a ‘for rent’ flyer from the front of our house. Our home is a duplex, and we had the front unit for rent and the flyer included our home telephone number. I’m guessing that this person saw my wife outside, saw the flyer, and sort of put 2 and 2 together (just a guess).
All seemed fine until a couple of weeks later when I was out of town for a week long conference. Then the calls started again. We seemed to notice that when I was home, we never got a call. But when it was my wife at home, that’s when the calls were coming in. They eventually got more brazen, and they would happen if I wasn’t home by 5:30-6:00 at night. We called the police again, and they said that they had no record of the incident (even though I was given a case number). Well, with the entire run around, etc, it soon stretched out to February/March (and yes, the calls continued).
Finally, we were told to call the phone company. The phone company started ‘trapping’ this guys phone calls (to us), and they sent him a letter telling him to knock it off. The phone company along with the police gave us his name, and asked us if we had ever heard of the guy (nope). He apparently told the phone company that he thinks his computer is doing the calling and asked the phone company to release our name to him, so he could tell what is happening. I told the phone company that in no uncertain terms were they to release our name to him. It was his problem, not ours. Plus, I work in the computer field. I can tell you one thing for certain: That’s no modem that’s calling us. Even if it was a modem, why is it late at night, usually when I’m not home? He was told that if he called more than 3 times after receiving the letter, he would have his phone disconnected. Well, he called the magic three times, and that was the last we heard of it (this was approximately last April). . . . until last Friday night. 11:30pm. I answered the phone, *69’d it and sure enough. He’s baaaaack. The rule seems to be that when he calls, if I answer, we get one call. If Jen answers, he calls back, then he calls and calls and calls, etc. It’s like he’s trying to scare her. And for the most part, he’s doing a good job. I used to believe that he was watching the house, and maybe he was at the beginning, but now it seems as if he calls, and if he gets me, that’s where the calls end.
Why don’t we change our number? We both sort of think that is like turning up your radio when you have bad engine noise coming from your car. Our number is listed because we often have friends that live out of town and occasionally have to ‘look us up’ get back in touch with us. Plus, it doesn’t change the fact that this guy is out there, doing this sort of thing. I guess I’ll call the phone company and get this started again, but I’d like to hear your ideas. The police can’t really do much. Because my wife is expecting in November, I will be taking no backpacking trips at least until next spring, so I’m around. I just like to bounce this off you guys and see what you think of the situation. I’ll be bouncing back into this forum as much as I can.
Cheers!
Tracy
Not sure if this is the right area to post this in, I’ll rely on the mod’s discretion. – Also – sorry for the long post.
I need some advice on how to handle a situation that my family is in. Because there are a number of LEO’s here and a bunch of very smart, sane people, I could really use your advice. Let me first give you some history. This whole situation started about Last October. Here is the scoop:
I was away on a week long backpacking trip last October and as I was coming home, I used my cell phone to call my wife and find out how the family was doing in my absence. She said something to the effect of “well, you know how something strange always happens when you are gone†and she proceeded to tell me that she had been receiving harassing phone calls. They started on Friday night about 11:00 pm, and the caller would call and then when my wife (Jen) picked up the phone, they would just sit there on the open line. After she would hang up, the person would call right back and then sit on the line. Jen said some times she could hear the television in the background. She used the *69 feature on the phone to get the number. So she could tell that it was the same number each time (no, it wasn’t blocked). Sometimes, the person would let the whole answering machine play, and then hang up. Then he would call right back. Well, even though we live in Golden, it scared her pretty good. (We also have a 3 year old little boy) .She isn’t real big on firearms, and doesn’t know much about them, but she said that if she had known what to do/where to find/how to load one of them/ she would have had one right by her. – as a side note, Jen is very practical (a structural engineer), and she isn’t prone to get overly excited about something, or too worked up. She finally ended up with one of my mountaineering ice axe’s by her bed.
Well, it didn’t sit too well with me, but by the time I got back, the calling stopped. So we kind of forgot about it, and just chalked it up to some high school kid prank or something. Then one night about 2 weeks later, I came home from work and went directly into the bathroom to work on a plumbing problem that we had and sure enough, we got the phone calls. I mention the bathroom because I was out of sight of any of the window in the kitchen/living room/dining room, etc. When I picked up the phone, I kind of lost it, and told the silent caller that in no uncertain terms that if he continued to harass us, he’d be suffering an acute case of lead poisoning. (I know, very bad, I shouldn’t have fanned the flames, but I’m very much the kind of person that when my family is threatened, I go into cornered animal mode)
That night we called the police. They came over, took a report, and said that they would call this ‘caller’ and tell them to stop. The police asked us if we had any enemies. I said no. I pretty much live peaceably with everyone. I teach Sunday School at Church, I don’t have any shady business practices, nothing like that. Jen is in school to get her masters in education and wants to work with lower income children. So for the most part, we do our best to be good members of society. We guessed that this person got our number from a ‘for rent’ flyer from the front of our house. Our home is a duplex, and we had the front unit for rent and the flyer included our home telephone number. I’m guessing that this person saw my wife outside, saw the flyer, and sort of put 2 and 2 together (just a guess).
All seemed fine until a couple of weeks later when I was out of town for a week long conference. Then the calls started again. We seemed to notice that when I was home, we never got a call. But when it was my wife at home, that’s when the calls were coming in. They eventually got more brazen, and they would happen if I wasn’t home by 5:30-6:00 at night. We called the police again, and they said that they had no record of the incident (even though I was given a case number). Well, with the entire run around, etc, it soon stretched out to February/March (and yes, the calls continued).
Finally, we were told to call the phone company. The phone company started ‘trapping’ this guys phone calls (to us), and they sent him a letter telling him to knock it off. The phone company along with the police gave us his name, and asked us if we had ever heard of the guy (nope). He apparently told the phone company that he thinks his computer is doing the calling and asked the phone company to release our name to him, so he could tell what is happening. I told the phone company that in no uncertain terms were they to release our name to him. It was his problem, not ours. Plus, I work in the computer field. I can tell you one thing for certain: That’s no modem that’s calling us. Even if it was a modem, why is it late at night, usually when I’m not home? He was told that if he called more than 3 times after receiving the letter, he would have his phone disconnected. Well, he called the magic three times, and that was the last we heard of it (this was approximately last April). . . . until last Friday night. 11:30pm. I answered the phone, *69’d it and sure enough. He’s baaaaack. The rule seems to be that when he calls, if I answer, we get one call. If Jen answers, he calls back, then he calls and calls and calls, etc. It’s like he’s trying to scare her. And for the most part, he’s doing a good job. I used to believe that he was watching the house, and maybe he was at the beginning, but now it seems as if he calls, and if he gets me, that’s where the calls end.
Why don’t we change our number? We both sort of think that is like turning up your radio when you have bad engine noise coming from your car. Our number is listed because we often have friends that live out of town and occasionally have to ‘look us up’ get back in touch with us. Plus, it doesn’t change the fact that this guy is out there, doing this sort of thing. I guess I’ll call the phone company and get this started again, but I’d like to hear your ideas. The police can’t really do much. Because my wife is expecting in November, I will be taking no backpacking trips at least until next spring, so I’m around. I just like to bounce this off you guys and see what you think of the situation. I’ll be bouncing back into this forum as much as I can.
Cheers!
Tracy
