An international hoax touched Gilroy Wednesday after several
residents called police reporting a text message that masqueraded
as an emergency child abduction alert.
An international hoax touched Gilroy Wednesday after several residents called police reporting a text message that masqueraded as an emergency child abduction alert.
More than a thousand people from Toronto to Stockton were still texting and tweeting by the minute Thursday afternoon – 24 hours after Amber Alert officials discredited the text. Among the disingenuous alerts were even false rejoices: “They found the girl!” read one persistent tweet Thursday.
The false alert – the third of its kind to hit Gilroy since March – mimicked the style of a true Amber Alert, reporting a 3-year-old girl taken by a man in a “newer silver truck” in Idaho, Connecticut or some other state thrown in along the grapevine. However, the notice lacked contact information for the investigating law agency that legitimate alerts typically include.
An alert containing the same phony alphanumeric license plate – no. 72B381 – apparently originated in Salt Lake City last February, traversing the country via texts and tweets during the following days, according to news reports from different states. At the time, California Highway Patrol officials reported the gag message had popped up in San Luis Obispo County, Bakersfield and Fresno.
While Morgan Hill police did not receive any calls Wednesday or Thursday, Gilroy’s emergency dispatchers received “a few” calls Wednesday, but none Thursday, Senior Dispatcher Jim Stevens said. A woman who answered Amber Alert’s toll-free number Wednesday and only identified herself as Marini said people were calling about the fake text from across the United States – including from New Jersey and Maine – but she did not know how or where the message originated.
Gilroyans last saw two hoaxes in March. One text reported a false rape outside a Target store in either Morgan Hill or Gilroy. This came after a string of actual sexual assaults occurred in Morgan Hill Safeway parking lots. Another text falsely predicted that gang violence, specifically the murder of three women, would occur outside the old Wal-Mart as part of a gang initiation. This message spread across the Bay Area, according to law enforcement agencies.
In both cases, Police were hard-pressed to do anything because it was unclear where either message began and what law enforcement agency would have jurisdiction. Gilroy police responded by saying residents need to assess information and relay it to authorities if they believe it is serious, and Santa Clara County District Attorney Spokesperson said an arrested suspect could face charges of filing a false police report, a misdemeanor entailing up to one year in county jail.
The Amber Alert Program, named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, does send text messages, but only to people who have signed up on its official Web site. The official alerts that occasionally scroll below TV shows and on highway marquees originate from vetted cases thanks to voluntary partnerships among law enforcement agencies, broadcasters and transportation agencies that activate “an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases,” according to the Amber Alert Web site.
“When there’s an Amber Alert, we know,” Stevens said.
For up to date information regarding Amber Alerts or more on the organization, visit www.missingkids.com.
