The Phone’s for You

Baytown fast-food manager tricked into pulling alarm
Associated Press

BAYTOWN — The manager of a Baytown fast-food restaurant was duped by a prank caller into pulling a lever triggering fire suppression equipment that soaked the eatery with foam.

The caller told an Arby's general manager Sunday that he was from the fire department, and the lever had to be pulled for a test to be performed. Nothing happened the first time it was pulled, so the manager was instructed to pull the lever again, which prompted spray from the ceilings, The Baytown Sun reported.

The caller then told the manager to break the windows and evacuate the building. Workers evacuated, but did not break the windows.

The restaurant was shut down for cleanup. Police said several area businesses have received similar calls, and they are seeking the public's help


If caller says to trash your hotel room, think twice

Rebecca Beitsch and Amy L. Edwards Orlando Sentinel Staff Writers

Lisa Kantorski took the call from the person who claimed to be a front-desk clerk about a gas leak in their hotel room near Orlando International Airport.She frantically relayed the information to her husband, Mark, an Indian River County deputy. He followed the caller's instructions ... and smashed the window of his room with a toilet tank.

"When I broke the window, I got suspicious," Mark said. "It didn't seem right, but she [Lisa] was panicking, so I continued."

Just before 7 a.m. Monday, the Kantorskis had no idea they were the latest victims of a prankster — or pranksters — whose tricks are sweeping the nation. The unknown protagonists dupe otherwise rational people into doing outrageous things, including driving trucks through storefronts and breaking hotel windows to test fire alarms.

The Monday incident follows others from across the country:

•In Arkansas, a caller posing as a sprinkler-company employee persuaded a motel employee to do more than $50,000 in damage to a motel as part of a "test" of the motel's emergency alarms.

•At a Comfort Suites in Daphne, Ala., a caller ordered a guest to turn on the sprinklers for a fire that wasn't. The result: more than $10,000 in damage.

•In Nebraska, a Hampton Inn employee was convinced by a caller to pull the fire alarm, later telling him the only way to silence the alarm was by breaking the lobby windows. The employee enlisted the help of a nearby trucker, who drove his rig through the front door.