Plan Revealed to Catch Obscene Caller

San Diego police are tapping 23 telephones in a telecommunications dragnet designed to catch the man who has tormented at least 1,500 women with obscene and threatening telephone calls since 1981.

Police spokesman Bill Robinson announced the plan Thursday, saying women in San Diego County likely to be called were selected to have their telephones tapped. “He will eventually call one of them by the law of averages,” Robinson said.

San Diego police also offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the obscene caller.

Police determined in 1981 that a pattern of obscene calls had been made by one individual and that he may have been making calls long before that, Robinson said. He calls as many as 15 women a day, rarely calling the same woman twice. Police say he may have made at least 3,000 additional unreported calls.

The caller always uses the same approach, beginning with a friendly tone and sometimes saying he knows the woman’s husband. Then he suddenly becomes authoritative and frightens the woman into not hanging up. He will say he is down the street watching the woman and tell her what she is wearing, mentioning a common color.

“He always gives the impression he can see them,” Robinson said. Sometimes he will tell the woman he has her son or daughter or that he will rape her if she hangs up.

The man uses a question and answer approach, always asking, “Do you understand?” Robinson said. “He is a commanding person once he gains control of the conversation.” He asks about the woman’s underwear and anatomy, becoming increasingly sexually explicit. Robinson said the calls are so traumatizing that some women have sought psychological counseling.

After investigating the calls for four years, police detectives have decided to enlist the public’s help, according to Robinson. San Diego area women are warned to hang up on any caller who sounds unfriendly or threatening. Police are asking anyone with information about the caller to call 236-TIPS.