Law and Order Porter County
October 19, 2012 3:44PM
Updated: November 21, 2012 6:10AM
PORTER COUNTY
Caller ID software used in scam
A prankster or thwarted scam artist used phone software to make it appear a Lake County Sheriff’s officer was making threats against a 27-year-old rural Valparaiso woman. The woman told Porter County police she got a call at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday from a man claiming to be a detective in Philadelphia, and who had her full Social Security number, telling her that she supposedly owed money to a cash-advance business, although he refused to give her the name of the business.
Soon she got another call — this one showing up as the Lake County Sheriff’s Department on caller ID — and the male caller repeatedly threatened to have her arrested. When she called the number back, a dispatcher told her the badge number of the “officer” who called her was bogus, according to the police report.
Vandalism reported at storage business
The locking brackets of 27 storage units were found damaged Thursday morning at A-Reliable Storage, 44 W. U.S. 6. Although several of the doors had been opened, police said it did not appear that anyone had gone inside them. Two portions of the chain-link fencing surrounding the property also were damaged, police said.
SOUTH HAVEN
Habitual offender gets two charges
Police stopped Mathew Koch, 25, of Portage, at about 11:20 a.m. Thursday for attempting to go straight through the intersection, at McCool Road and U.S. 6, from the left-turn only lane, nearly causing a crash.
Koch reportedly said he did not know he had been in the turning lane because he “was busy messing with” his phone, according to the arrest report. Koch was arrested on two felony charges — driving despite being an habitual traffic violator and possession of a hypodermic needle. Koch also was wanted by Hobart police on a warrant for a possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.
