Detailed by ABC News recently, 20-year-old Nathan Teklemariam and 20-year-old Carson Rinehart were driving around Fresno, California last week when one of the two men accidentally dialed 911 on his mobile phone. Often referred to as butt-dialing or pocket-dialing, the 911 dispatcher immediately answered, attempted to communicate with the caller and started listening in case the caller needed assistance. Almost immediately, the dispatcher realized that the two men could be up to criminal behavior based on the conversation and the 35-minute call yielded some fairly incriminating evidence for police.
After hearing the two men talk about smoking marijuana, the discussion shifted to the best way to break into a nearby car. After one of the men said “give me the bolt and give me the hammer just in case,” shattering glass was heard by the dispatcher.
At this point, both men exclaimed in delight over narcotics found inside the car and quickly left in their own automobile. One of the men was heard stating “We’ll go back and search in a little bit and search the whole thing. But we’ll park far away, you know?“
At this point, the 911 dispatcher was able to start piecing together where the two men were located within Fresno. After relaying the possible position of the two men to nearby police officers, the alleged burglary suspects started to get extremely paranoid about a patrol car following their vehicle. Statements such as “He’s following the (expletive) out of you, bro,” and “Wow, what the (expletive) did I do?” were heard by the dispatcher. At this point, the patrol car pulled over the two men and a police officer asked both men to step out of the car.
After searching the car, police located items stolen from the vehicle in question. Both men were placed under arrest and currently face charges of burglary, conspiracy and possession of stolen property. When told how the 911 led to their capture, one of the men said “This fool really called 911? (expletive).“
When asked about the crime, Sgt. Jaime Rios of the Fresno police department said “I have never heard of something like this. There have been times where the dispatcher hears something like this, but never has a call come in before a crime being committed and staying on all the way to the end.”
A similar incident occurred near Portland, Oregon earlier this year when 25-year-old Dana Lucht accidentally butt-dialed 911 during a drug deal. According to NBC News, the 911 dispatcher was able to listen in during the drug exchange and trace their location using the GPS built into the smartphone. After discovering the deal was happening approximately one block from a nearby police station, officers were quickly dispatched.
The 911 dispatcher was able to verify the officer had the correct location when hearing the officer’s voice on the call. After discovering methamphetamine on one of the suspects, 25-year-old Raleigh Reynolds was arrested on felony drug charges of possession and delivery. Lucht was cited for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and summoned to appear in court at a later date.
