Crime Scene Prank caller, drunken public worker face courts

By Lee Han-soo

Man acts as ‘sobbing woman’ to prank call police

A man was sent to trial on Thursday after calling police and pretending to be a sobbing woman in dire need of help.

According to police, the man, surnamed Kim, 20, disguised his voice and called the police hotline around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

“Save me, save me, I think I am located on a mountain,” said Kim, sobbing in a woman’s tone, before hanging up.

Police immediately started investigating and discovered that the call was from Okpo-dong in the city of Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.

Five hours into the investigation, police managed to identify Kim as the caller.

Kim said he prank-called police after watching a TV soap opera about police hotline officers.

Police handed Kim over to the court on a misdemeanor charge.

O

fficial’s drunken rampage on first day at work

A government probation official went on a drunken rampage at his “welcoming” party on his first day of work, a court has heard.

On Wednesday, Chuncheon District Court sentenced the man, surnamed Joo, 26, to eight months’ jail, suspended for two years, and 40 hours of an anti-violence therapy.

The court said Kim was arrested at a bar in the city of Chuncheon last October after wielding a weapon, harming bystanders and resisting arrest during the rampage.

“Joo was neither forgiven by the victims nor made sufficient compensation,” the court said in a ruling statement. “However, we decided to take into consideration the fact that he committed the crime after being intoxicated and that he set up a fund of 4.5 million won ($3,827) for some of the victims.”