Police made an unusual arrest on Wednesday night, after tracking down a 911 emergency line “fan”. John Triplette, 45, of Hayward allegedly made over 30,000 prank phone calls over the last eight months, with one “solid’ reason: “because it’s free.”

“He completely overwhelmed our system,” said Desi Calzada, Manager of Hayward Communications Center. “He delayed the answering of other 911 calls because we were answering his,” Desi Calzada added.

The suspect, who now faces a $1,000 fine or six months in jail, apparently started his little charade last May, when the California Highway Patrol’s communication center started receiving strange calls from a T-Mobile phone number.

In early January, Triplette changed his center of attention towards Hayward’s dispatch center:  “The caller would make various noises, including grunts and other bodily noises, minimal conversation in a disguised voice, beeps from the touch pad etc.,” said Lt. Chris Orrey, spokesman for the Hayward Police Department, quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle.

According to police reports, the suspect managed to increase the number of incoming calls by 30 percent during that period. Triplette managed to make 17,000 calls to the California Highway’s Patrol communications center, 4,000 to the Solano County Sheriff’s Department, over 10,000 to the police department and many others.

The investigators managed to identify and locate the cell phone responsible for the thousands of fake emergency calls in the 24000 block of Amador Street. The suspect allegedly apologized for making the calls, but that sounds strange following his explanation of making them because they were free.

“This cannot be tolerated,” said Lt. Chris Orrey. “Abuse of the 911 system like this puts people’s lives in jeopardy. You can bet that we will investigate and arrest anyone who does this.” Upon dialing an emergency number from a mobile phone, the chances are to be located, so people should think twice before making prank calls to 911.