Man In Virginia Homeless Shelter Made Multiple Fake 911 Calls To Brick, Police Say

A man who was tracked to a homeless shelter in Virginia is facing multiple charges in connection with a string of false 911 calls reporting shootings, threats to kill residents and police officers down, Brick police said Monday afternoon.

Bruce A. Ritter, 33, is accused of making repeated calls to the Brick Township Police Department over the last week reporting multiple threats at a Solar Drive address, Brick Sgt. Larry Petrola said.

Solar Drive is in the Midstreams section of town.

The first call, on Aug. 25, reported a man with a gun at a residence there, Petrola said. That call proved to be false, but Brick police received numerous other calls to the same address that prompted additional police response. The additional calls were for shootings, officers down, and threats to kill the residents and responding officers, Petrola said.

The caller was able to conceal his identity and the originating numbers were being blocked, Petrola said. Detectives were ultimately able to identify Ritter as the source of the calls.

Petrola said Ritter’s last known address was Daniels Park Circle, Ruckersville, Va., just north of Charlottesville. A search of online records indicates Ritter lived in Brick for a period of time.

Brick detectives were able to track Ritter to a homeless shelter located in Roanoke, Va., more than 130 miles south of Ruckersville, Petrola said. With the assistance of the Roanoke Police Department, Ritter was located on Saturday, Aug. 29, and arrested, Petrola said.

Ritter has been charged with three counts of stalking, two counts of causing a false public alarms, and two counts of violating a final restraining order, Petrola said. Ritter is behing held at the Roanoke City Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail, no 10 percent option, pending extradition to New Jersey, Petrola said.

The investigation is continuing and additional charges against Ritter are pending the outcome of the investigation, Petrola said.