Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office Investigate Swatting Call that occurred Wednesday Night

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- The Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a swatting call that occurred Wednesday night. 

According to Sheriff Matt Lutz, the sheriff’s office received a call around between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night from a male subject stating he had done harm to a family member inside a house on Jenkins Drive in Newton Township and made statements about hurting himself and police if they showed up.

“Upon getting to the house, we had a little bit of an issue with our mapping system. It took us to the house across the street to start with. Once we figured out the particular house where this was supposedly at, matching up the address from the caller, we were able to start investigating it. We did have a number for the person who lived at the house. We called that number and that person was in bed,” Sheriff Lutz said.

The gentleman was able to come to the door to confirm everyone inside the house was okay and that they had no idea what was going on. Along with the man, a woman and three children were inside.

Lutz estimated about 20 vehicles that showed up to the house, including the Sheriff’s Office afternoon, midnight and Special Response Team.

“First of all, it’s a felony. Anytime you’re inducing panic and getting a response from a fire department or law enforcement, it’s a felony to commit that crime. Second of all, we have officers responding fast to that area because they feel somebody is being hurt or has been hurt and we have a pretty volatile situation. So, you’re creating a hazard for our officers or for our community as we’re trying to navigate that,” Lutz said. “Not to mention the resources we’re tying up when there are other calls and emergencies coming in that we could be handling.”

Sheriff Lutz said some of these calls are done out of retaliation or revenge. The investigation is ongoing, as they work with the family of the house to see if they may know of someone who would do this. The sheriff office is working to trace the call back to the suspect. 

“We’ll do everything we can to see if we can get charges against the person who did the call,” Lutz said.