Cheyenne Man Arrested For False 911 Calls
A 35-year-old Cheyenne man, Matthew Barbera, has been arrested for making a series of phony emergency calls over the past several weeks, according to a spokesman for the Cheyenne Police Department.
Officer Kevin Malatesta says between Sept. 17 and Nov. 5, Cheyenne Police responded to numerous gun threats, bomb threats and false 911 calls throughout Cheyenne.
On Friday, Nov. 3 bomb threats were called into the Laramie County courthouse and Alta Vista Elementary school. No bombs were found in those buildings, however. On Nov. 6, Cheyenne Police investigators found out Barbera had made several false reports to the Laramie County Combined Communications Center, and he was arrested.
Investigators are still trying to find out if Barbera made the threats against the courthouse and the school on Nov. 3. Malatesta said Tuesday morning that investigators don't know why Barbera made the false reports.
Calling in a false report is a misdemeanor under Wyoming. But when it leads to the evacuation of a building, as happened Friday at the courthouse, it becomes a felony, punishable by up to 3 years in prison.
The judges of the district and circuit courts house in the courthouse canceled court proceedings on Friday as a precaution after the bomb threat was made