Take Callers’ Threats Seriously, Police Warn

When a frightened East San Diego woman recently contacted police to complain about an obscene call, in which a man threatened to rape her in front of her 7-year-old son, detectives made her even more nervous.

She was told to take the threat seriously.

She was warned not to travel alone outside her home, and she listened to a tape provided by police in which the same caller threatened to rape a woman’s 12-year-old daughter.

Police also let her know that the caller had phoned two other women the same night and is probably responsible for nearly 5,000 frightening calls to women over the past decade.

“If he’s been doing this for 10 years, he obviously gets something out of it,” said the woman, who asked that her name not be used in this story. “What if he stops getting something out it? What will he do next?”

Detectives working on the case said there is no evidence that the caller has ever personally contacted the women he telephones. But, because the caller has wrought so much “psychological damage,” they say they badly want him caught.

Police advise anyone who gets a similar telephone call to stay on the line “as long as you can bear to listen,” police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

“Try to remember as many details as possible and pass them on to the authorities,” he said. “Those details could help investigators decide if the series is similar to this one or the start-up of a new series.”

Those who have received obscene calls should call the department’s telephone report unit at 531-2990, Robinson said.

Investigators have said they have no clue as to who has been making these calls for so long and have not been able to establish any pattern.

About five years ago, Robinson said, police got lucky after an acquaintance of an obscene caller heard him bragging about what he had been doing and turned him in.

The 10-year caller rarely calls someone more than once, making him virtually impossible to track, said Sgt. Pete Munholland, who has worked on the case about 18 months.