YORK, NE — The city of York, NE is a small one. As of 2000, a humble 8,081 called the city home. So, perhaps its citizens can be forgiven for being a bit naïve. Or perhaps it’s just the employees of the York Hampton Inn Hotel.As May approached its close, one unwitting desk clerk at the Hampton Inn Hotel found herself on the butt end of a telephoned prank that ultimately left the building damaged and in chaos.
The source of the noise and confusion was a call that claimed to originate from the alarm company. While alarm company personnel certainly have cause to call their clients and check on things, they rarely encourage said clients to activate the fire alarm. You know, just to make sure it works.
According to the unnamed clerk, the caller told her to visit as website – which turned out to be pornographic.
While some might have seen that as a sign that the caller in question was not precisely who he claimed to be, the employee in question apparently never doubted his word for a moment. Instead, she was convinced that somewhere on that pornographic website lurked instructions for disabling the alarm system.
Sure, sounds perfectly reasonable.
Further making the caller seem authentic was his insistence that a call to the fire department would land the hotel in trouble to the tune of a $20,000 fine. The obviously logical solution to making the alarm stop its noise was, therefore, for the clerk and a gullible guest to break a window.
The front window.
With a truck.
Oddly enough, the noise did not stop even with all the property damage, so someone – not the clerk, if KHAS TV reports can be believed, called the fire department.
Understandably, York Police Chief Don Klug is unimpressed, stating that “We are trying to obtain phone records to identify where the call may have come from. We have not gotten the results of that request.”
Although the department was pleased to find no one hurt, York Fire Chief Kevin Stuhr points out, “We turn lights and sirens on. We go speeding down the street, for not only are we putting our firefighters’ lives in jeopardy, we are putting the public in jeopardy for a false alarm.
Similar pranks have been pulled in other states, resulting in as much as $50,000 in damage. The Hampton Inn only sustained $300 worth of repairs, but the prankster could find himself serving a year in jail for the misdemeanor.
