Chicago — A man who allegedly made 96 false reports to the Chicago 911 center, including fabricated sightings of people carrying guns in the Loop, is facing felony charges.
At one point, Rudy Thompson made 78 bogus reports to 911 within 90 days, according to prosecutor Sarah Dale-Schmidt.
He’s charged with calling in a false report about a group of men armed with guns in the 200 block of North Franklin on March 12, 2022. Dale-Schmidt said that the city’s emergency call center got the same call from his number earlier that day.
But he made many more false reports for which he is not charged, officials said. Office of Emergency Management and Communications records show he called 911 in Chicago 78 times within 90 days.
As of Wednesday, his phone number had called 911 a total of 97 times, with only one call being legitimate, Dale-Schmidt said.
“Sir, stop calling 911,” Judge David Kelly advised Thompson during a bail hearing on Thursday. “I don’t know why you’re doing this. Stop. Alright?”
Thompson’s public defender said he has severe mental health issues that would be better addressed outside the jail.
But Thompson, 32, was already supposed to be receiving that help because he has been on so-called “mental health probation” for aggravated battery of a CTA bus driver since October 2021. In that case, prosecutors said he leaned around a plastic shield and expelled a “large amount of spit” in the driver’s eye.
Kelly, the judge, held Thompson without bail for violating probation but said he could be released on the new charge without posting any cash.
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