Penalty for prank calling? Do the police even care? Is it really illegal?

by **coinleain** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:01 pm

So me and my friend decited to prank call a boy who was bullying her last year for revenge. It was a simple prank call saying "Your dad is cheating on your mother with my mother! You're father is ruining my family." Just to scare him a little. It was just a funny prank call and I didn't think he would even take it seriously. An hour later, his mother called and told us she was going to get the police involved, we lied and told them we got the wrong number and we texted him saying we got the wrong number too and he texted our number and said "Okay goodbye weirdo"
His mom told us she was in the law enforcement and we started getting scared if she would track us down or not. I know we went a little too far this time but we did not expect this to happen, it was just supposed to be a funny revenge prank call thing, and I never thought this would get out of hand. So the question is, is there a penalty for prank calls? If so, what is it?

He sent us a text saying that his mom called the police, would the police even care or do they have other things to worry about? It has been 2 days since the call. Would they have done something by now?

by **parnell** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:08 pm

I think it is illegal but the worst they would do is tell you to knock it off and not do it again

by **montrel68** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:21 pm

Yes, it is against the law
Yes, there are penalties

Typically, if she pursues it, you would go to court with your parents
and then the judge would decide if you pay fines, do community service, spend time in juvy ... or all three

They can take up to 180 days from the date of the call (at least around here)

If she really wanted to get nasty about it...

You said this: "Your dad is cheating on your mother with my mother! You're father is ruining my family."

and unless you can prove that is true about his dad (her husband)... then they can also take your parents with you to court with a charge of Slander (Verbal Defamation of Character)

So.... you & your friend both better let your parents know what you did..... because you would rather your parents find out from you & seek a solution

than have your parents find out from the police & being served with notice(s) of lawsuits

imagine what will happen if your parents have to pay fines & also pay these people because of your slanderous statement?

Honestly.... the slander.... could easily be THOUSANDS of Dollars!!!

all the police have to do is get phone records... it will show the time of the call as well as the phone number the call was placed from & the number called

by **ear** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:26 pm

I am not so sure that I would worry so much about the police as much as a defamation claim from the father. I would never have texted as this is written proof that you did it. I wouldn't think that the police would get involved in something like this. It was one call and its already been two days. I would wait a week. If nothing happens, then consider yourself lucky.

by **augustus** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:36 pm

Prank calling is a federal crime in the United States when it is to "annoy, abuse, threaten, or harrass". It is a felony under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. And you could get up to 2 years in prison.

Prank calls are rarely followed up on. However since it is a federal crime, your local or state police wouldn't be involved. It would be the FBI or US Marshalls. So in that case it would take more than 2 days.

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