Arrest after swatting incident in Bridgeport: Police

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 34-year-old Bridgeport woman was arrested on a warrant charging her with first-degree false report of an incident. Bridgeport police said she reported a fake “swatting” hostage situation in June.

Dorothy Smith turned herself in on Thursday and was charged with the crime.

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“Swatting is when an individual provides false information to law enforcement that leads to a response (with special weapons and tactical means – SWAT),” Bridgeport Police Detective Jeffrey A. Holtz wrote in a statement. “Such responses can pose an unjustified danger to citizens and police officers.”

Holtz said the incident began on June 27, when Smith allegedly called 911 and pretended to be another woman.

“(Smith) then falsely stated that she and her family were being held hostage at gunpoint by her boyfriend in a house on Highland Avenue,” Holtz said. “Smith also falsely stated that her boyfriend had just hit her with a gun. She said she made the call while she was locked in a bathroom. Smith also said her boyfriend was on the run.”

The call “triggered a high-level tactical response” from police, which included medical personnel, patrol officers and the agency’s emergency services unit.

“The woman who impersonated Smith was later found by officers safe in the home with her family, including young children,” Holtz said. “She stated she did not call 911.”

At the same time, police found 27-year-old Juwaun Terry in the house, who was in illegal possession of a gun and had escaped from a New Haven Department of Corrections halfway house in early June.

Terry was taken into custody on these charges and after an investigation, police determined that Terry had a relationship with both Smith and the woman on Highland Avenue.

“Smith made the call from a cell phone number assigned to her,” Holtz said. “The call was made from a location other than Highland Avenue.”

Smith was held on $75,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.