Arrest Made After 'Swatting' Incident In Bridgeport: Police

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 34-year-old Bridgeport woman was arrested on a warrant charging her with first-degree falsely reporting an incident, after Bridgeport police said she called in a fake, "swatting" hostage situation in June.

Dorothy Smith turned herself in on Thursday and was charged with the felony.

"Swatting involves a person falsely reporting information to law enforcement that leads to a (special weapons and tactical -SWAT) response, wrote Bridgeport Police Det. Jeffrey A. Holtz in a statement. "Such responses can create unwarranted danger for citizens and officers."

Holtz said the incident began on June 27, when Smith is alleged to have called 911, pretending to be another woman.

"[Smith] then falsely reported that her and her family were being held hostage at gunpoint in a house on Highland Avenue by her boyfriend," Holtz said. "Smith also falsely reported her boyfriend had just beaten her with a gun. She said she was making the call while she was locked in a bathroom. Smith also said her boyfriend was a fugitive."

The call "triggered a high level tactical response" by police, which included patrol officers and the department's Emergency Service Unit, in addition to medical personnel.

"The female Smith was impersonating was subsequently found by officers to be safe in the house with her family, which included small children," Holtz said. "She stated she did not call 911."

At the same time, police found 27 year-old Juwaun Terry at the house, who was illegally in possession of a gun, and who had escaped from a Department of Corrections halfway house in New Haven earlier in June.

Terry was taken into custody on those charges, and after an investigation, police found that Terry had been in a relationship with both Smith and the woman on Highland Avenue.

"Smith made the call from a cell phone number assigned to her," Holtz said. "The call was made from a location other than Highland Avenue."

Smith was held in lieu of bail of $75,000, and she is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.