co-worker getting inapropriate phone calls

locomotiveman

A friend of mine yesterday got called out of the blue by someone she does not know who claimed to be randomly calling Verizon numbers. She thought he sounded suicidal and talked with him for a while but then had to let him go. He called back and made inapropriate sexual comments. Then he did it several times in the middle of the night, and she threatened to call the police, he has not called back since (yet). His number listed as being in the 661 area code (Bakersfield etc) we are on the east coast. She contacted Verizon and they said that they can not block single numbers but this seems unlikely to both of us. So suggestions as to how to solve this, I gave her a whistle to give him a good blast with if he calls again but thats a temporary fix. She's also considered calling the Sheriffs Dept for the county that the area code is attached to but its 630 AM there and well they have more important stuff to deal with at that time of night.

romanqwerty

Make records of any contact if possible. Contact the police and attempt to get a restraining order? Bitch and whine more etc to your phone company since they should be able to block numbers IIRC.

Zek

Well, if he does call back, then she should call the police like she said.

Thanatos

The police absolutely do not have better things to be doing. This is the kind of thing you pay them to deal with. You should have called them after the second time he called.

Sarcastro

romanqwerty wrote: »

Make records of any contact if possible. Contact the police and attempt to get a restraining order? Bitch and whine more etc to your phone company since they should be able to block numbers IIRC.

Aside from using a phone code to sutomatically report a harrassing call to the police, (*97 in canada), there is a phone feature called 'Call Blocking' which, interestingly enough, blocks calls. They can even block cells and telemarketers through the 'Block Last' subfeature, which blocks the last circuit to connect to your line, restricted, unmarked or what have you.

RoundBoy

Look up the call trace feature ... i forget the number atm.... right after he calls... call that *xx number and the call will be flagged in the verizon system.

Then make a phone call to YOUR police department (NOT 911). Explain the situation... tell them about the call trace(s) .. give them the number. Let them work it out from there.

A call from Poilce dept X to Phone call boy's Police station is worth more then Random out of state person calling.

witch_ie

Is this a cell phone or a land line that he's calling? Either way, it sounds like she has caller ID and should just not answer the phone when he calls. Definitely file a report with both the local area police and the Bakersfield police.

If he leaves a message, save the recording and make copies for the police. If she does answer the phone for some reason, make sure she records the call either using a tape recording or the phone itself if it has that capability (most cell phones do).

There may not be much the police can do at this point, but it's important to get it on record so that there's a history of harrassment.

locomotiveman

Thanatos wrote: »

The police absolutely do not have better things to be doing. This is the kind of thing you pay them to deal with. You should have called them after the second time he called.

I said this in reference to the time it was then, 630 AM on the West Coast the day after a national holiday thats associated with drinking heavily and firing off explosives of one sort or another, we both felt that the sheriffs dept there could use a break. As it is he has not called back and had been threatened overnight that she would contact the police, and he has not called back so far.

Malkor

If this is happening at work tell a supervisor and/or HR.

Everywhereasign

Call your local police, not the cops at his end. Typically they wait until he calls again, you call the cops and let them know he just called, and the cops call him back. That usually does it for your garden variety asshole caller. If he keeps bugging her the cops will call his local police and they will go from there.

It sounds like she scared him off though.