Local man arrested for alleged false alarms
A man previously arrested for harassing law enforcement with repeated 911 calls was arrested again early Friday after allegedly calling 911 four times within
24 hours under false pretenses.
Phillip Byron Rookard Jr., 49, of
8248 Park Ave., was taken into custody at his residence shortly before 1:30 a.m. and charged with communicating a false alarm, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one
year in jail. He was initially held on $1,000 bond, but later released on an O.R. bond and taken to a local hospital to detoxify from alcohol. He is set to appear Nov. 26 in Garland County District Court. According to the probable cause affidavit, around 1 a.m., Garland County sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Bowerman received his third call in less than six hours for an agency assist at Rookard’s residence. Rookard had reportedly called 911 stating he had fallen and hurt himself.
When LifeNet and Bowerman arrived, Rookard was reportedly sitting on his sofa watching television and “acted surprised to see us,” Bowerman said. He denied making the 911 calls and “wanted us to leave.”
Bowerman noted Rookard has a long history of calling 911 asking for LifeNet to come help him due to a fall and “a multitude of other reasons.” The deputy noted he had been to Rookard’s residence four times in less than 24 hours, all resulting in him denying having called.
Bowerman said he spoke to LifeNet personnel who said they had been to Rookard’s house 11 times in the last four days on 911 calls and he claimed he had not called each time.
Bowerman took Rookard into custody on the misdemeanor charge and while walking him to his unit, Sgt. Jeremy Simpson arrived and spoke to Rookard who allegedly told him to “(expletive) off and go back to your car!”
Rookard was previously arrested on a misdemeanor charge of harassing communications on Jan. 8, 2013, after calling 911 and other emergency service lines repeatedly about a tree in his yard.
According to reports, deputies were dispatched to the residence in reference to Rookard having called 911 and other lines at the sheriff’s department about 20 times. He was warned to stop calling unless it was an emergency, but within 15 minutes of the warning he called 10 more times.
Rookard reportedly wanted deputies to cut a tree in his yard. He had reportedly called Saline County deputies and the Garland County Public Defender’s Office making the same request.
On June 27, 2013, Rookard pleaded guilty to the harassment charge in district court and was ordered to pay $520 in court costs and admonished not to cause any further problems.