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Santa Clarita Stringer Arrested For Making Multiple False 9-1-1 Reports

A Santa Clarita stringer was arrested Tuesday after allegedly making several false 9-1-1 reports to the Los Angeles County Fire Department over the span of two months.

Over the span of several weeks, the Los Angeles County Fire Department received multiple false reports of different incidents throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, said Detective David Nisenoff, with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s Detective Bureau.

Jose “Joey” Trejo, a 19-year-old man who works as an independent news contractor or “stringer,” was arrested for making these false reports, according to officials.

“A lot of these calls he was reporting were not just small incidents, like a trash can fire, or a difficulty breathing call,” Nisenoff said. “These were reports like brush fires at the top of mountains that a helicopter was needed, and reports of traffic collisions with overturned vehicles which required a lot of units from the fire department, the Sheriff’s Department and AMR.”

After firefighters received multiple false reports, including a reported brush fire, just days after the Santa Clarita Valley received multiple inches of rain, the LACoFD contacted the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

“All the false reports were made directly to the Fire Department which made this investigation difficult,” Nisenoff said.

Trejo was essentially “swatting” the LACoFD, the detective said. “Swatting” is the practice of making fake calls to emergency services with the goal of having armed law enforcement dispatched to a particular location. What Trejo was doing, although not aimed at a law enforcement agency, resulted in a similar misdirection of resources.

The detective was able to take Trejo into custody Tuesday morning. Nisenoff could not comment on how investigators were able to link the reports to him.

Although Trejo sells news stories to local social media page “WhatsUpSCV,” Nissenoff said that they “have no dirty hands,” and the false reports had nothing to do with the company.

The owner of the Facebook Page has been cooperative with the investigation, according to Nissenoff.

As of Tuesday, Trejo was arrested on one felony count of making a false report which could lead to serious injury or death to first responders, Nisenoff said.

The case is being handed over to the District Attorney’s office where Trejo could face multiple additional false report charges on top of those that have already been brought to attention.


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Santa Clarita Stringer Arrested For Making Multiple False 9-1-1 Reports

4 comments

  1. Gascon won’t prosecute. He’s probably already been released.

  2. What a disgusting excuse for a human. Hopefully GasCON feels the same and prosecutes him.

  3. Now HE is the real story.

  4. Glad Jose Trejo was arrested before he could divert more life saving calls! If he’s trying to climb the ladder the easy way, along with continuing affirmative hiring/actions, he sure did it the wrong way! We’ll see what Liberal Gas-Con does with this one!

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About Louie Diaz

Louie was born and raised in Santa Clarita. At the age of two Louie lost his vision due to a brain tumor. However, Louie doesn't let blindness stop him from doing what ever it is he wants to accomplish. Growing up some of his favorite hobbies were wood working, fishing and riding bikes. Louie graduated from College of the Canyon in December of 2017, with a Broadcast Journalism degree. Growing up Louie has always wanted to be a fire fighter or a police officer, but because of his blindness Louie knew that wouldn't work. Louie has always loved listening to police and fire radio traffic, using a scanner, and he figured if he was going to listen to the scanner so much, he should do something with it.