Impending Arrest Drove ‘Alphabet Caller’ Suspect to Surrender

A man suspected of terrorizing 300 Ventura County women and more than 200 others in Southern California by telephoning them and threatening the lives of their husbands turned himself in because he knew authorities were close to arresting him, officials said Wednesday.

Steven Imler, 37, surrendered to Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials in Temple City early Tuesday morning, ending an 18-month investigation that spanned four counties.

Imler said he decided to turn himself in after he was confronted on Monday by his employer, who had been cooperating in a joint investigation by the Los Angeles and Ventura county sheriff’s departments, officials said.

“He admitted to making the calls,” said Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Sinclair. “He said it was due to a lot of stress and other factors in his life and this was a way of relieving his anxieties.”

After two hours of questioning, Imler was transferred to the Ventura County sheriff’s substation near Simi Valley, Ventura County Sheriff’s Detective Scott Miller said.

Imler, who lives in Lakewood, was booked on suspicion of one felony count of making terrorist phone calls, a charge that carries a maximum six-year prison term, and later released on $5,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear for arraignment in Ventura County Municipal Court on Tuesday.

Imler could not be reached for comment Wednesday. His mother and wife declined to talk to a reporter.

Ventura County law enforcement officials are handling the case because a majority of the suspect’s calls were made to county residents, with the most recent ones being placed Monday to Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Ventura, Miller said. It was unclear how many calls were made to these cities.

Miller said there was no particular reason why Imler chose to make so many calls to Ventura County women.

“He just happened to pick the Ventura County phone book; there was nothing specific about it,” Miller said.

Ventura Police Detective Jeanne Boger said that on one day last December the suspect made 27 calls to Ventura County women, including 13 in Simi Valley.

Imler is alleged to have made more than 500 threatening calls in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties since September, 1989.

Imler was dubbed the “Alphabet Caller” by authorities because he allegedly selected the names of married couples by going through pages of the phone book. Miller said the suspect would only call those women whose first names were listed alongside their husbands’.

“The calls were made to women during the early morning hours when the husbands were thought to be gone from the house,” he said. “The victims were told by the caller that their husbands were bound and gagged with a gun to their head.”

Miller said the suspect would sometimes ask the women for $5,000 ransom, but apparently no money was ever given.

The caller, who insisted that the women call him “sir,” would then ask the women to describe themselves to him, Miller said.

“He would usually ask them what they looked like, what their measurements were, what they were wearing,” Miller said. “He would also ask them to disrobe and do sexual acts upon themselves.”

Miller said some women were so terrified that they followed through with his demands.

“It was very believable, the scenario that he used,” Miller said. “He was quite aggressive on the phone when he talked to the women.”

Imler, who is married and has three children, has no criminal record, Miller said. The detective said Imler blamed his behavior on stress related to his job as a telemarketing manager at Florence Filter Corp. in Compton. Imler has worked for the company, which manufactures air filters, for 10 years.

Imler apparently made the threatening calls from his private office at the company, Miller said.

Miller said the search for the Alphabet Caller intensified last July when Ventura County sheriff’s detectives began tracing calls to potential victims. He said detectives selected about 50 couples in the Ventura County phone book who seemed likely victims and asked permission to trace their incoming calls. The actual conversations were not recorded.

Miller said every couple contacted by detectives was “more than willing to assist in trying to catch the person.”

Several of the women participating received the threatening calls, which were traced two months ago to Imler’s company, Miller said.

Miller said the owner of Florence Filter cooperated in the investigation. He quoted the owner as describing Imler as “very aggressive, energetic and hard-working.”

Detectives were within one week of arresting Imler when he decided to turn himself in, Miller said. He added that additional charges may be filed against Imler.