Crime & Safety
Man from Nearby Hemet Arrested, Accused of Crank-Calling 911
Police said the 40-year-old began the string of annoying, vulgar calls at 3:40 a.m.
HEMET, CA – A 40-year-old man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly misusing the 911 system, Hemet police reported.
Paul Rathgaber of Hemet is accused of making "annoying, repetitive phone calls to a 911-emergency line" beginning around 3:40 a.m. and "using profanity and making vulgar statements to the public safety dispatchers," according to a Hemet police statement.
Officers determined the suspect's location and were dispatched to the area of Tahquitz and Central avenues, where they allegedly found Rathgaber in possession of drug paraphernalia and the phone used to make the crank calls.
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He was arrested at 5:25 a.m. and booked into the Riverside County Jail, where he was being held in lieu of $2,500 bail, according to Hemet police Lt. Eric Dickson.
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