[Scan-DC] Fw: Calif. Woman Held in Threats on Emergency Radios

[Alan Henney]

A couple interesting articles with Doug's assistance....

The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.)

May 4, 2010, Tuesday

WOMAN HELD IN THREATS ON EMERGENCY RADIOS

BYLINE: JOHN ASBURY, THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 740 words

A San Jacinto woman suspected of interrupting emergency radio broadcasts 
with threatening remarks over the weekend was arrested early Monday, Hemet 
police said.

Irene Marie Levy, 29, of San Jacinto, was taken into custody at her mobile 
home in the 900 block of South Grand Avenue on suspicion of criminal 
threats.

 Police said Levy, who is a ham radio operator, made a bomb threat and 
talked about the deaths of police and firefighters during 30 hours of radio 
transmissions ending just before officers arrived at her home.

Many of the broadcasts contained rambling threats directed at Hemet police, 
the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and particular police units.

"A lot of it was, 'Piggy, piggy, piggy, die, die, die,' " Hemet police Sgt. 
Mark Richards said. "There was no threat to kill any specific person."

 Police believe Levy used her home computer to reprogram a handheld radio to 
broadcast on the emergency frequencies. The messages overrode Hemet police 
and Cal Fire dispatcher transmissions, causing emergency personnel to have 
to repeat broadcasts, Richards said.

The threats, which started Saturday night, interfered with emergency 
broadcasts in a fatal traffic collision in Hemet, a search-and-rescue call 
Sunday and a brush fire that afternoon near Beaumont. One of the broadcasts 
was a bomb threat early Sunday, police said.

The radio transmissions were not connected to five previous threats and 
attacks on Hemet police and the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Gang Task Force, 
Richards said. Since December, officers have received death threats and been 
targeted in assassination attempts.

Levy, described as a stay-at-home mom with one child, is suspected of 
disguising her voice as a man broadcasting on Cal Fire and Hemet police 
frequencies from Saturday night until she was arrested early today, Richards 
said.

"She doesn't like the Police Department or Cal Fire. I don't know any other 
motivations than that," he said.

On Sunday evening, "Levy boasted that the police would never find her," 
Richards said.

Minutes after her last transmission Monday, police found her still holding a 
radio, he said. She admitted to broadcasting the messages and had been 
listening to herself on several other radios, Richards said.

At the home, police found 11 radios, seven frequency scanners, frequency 
lists, computer equipment and Levy's ham radio technician's license issued 
by the FCC in September 2009, Richards said.

Levy was booked at the Larry Smith Detention Center in lieu of $25,000 bond 
on suspicion of making terrorist threats, falsely reporting a bomb threat 
and maliciously interrupting, disrupting, impeding or interfering with a 
transmission of a public radio frequency.

Levy's mother, Wanda, was tearful when contacted at Levy's home Monday. The 
arrest is "totally out of context for her. She has no reason to hate the 
police," she said.

Her daughter had mental problems about eight years ago when she threatened 
suicide and acted out in other ways, she said. Levy's mother declined to 
give her last name.

Riverside County fire communications officials used tracking equipment to 
triangulate the transmissions, but were unsuccessful because the threats 
were transmitted sporadically. Riverside police were asked to step in 
Sunday, using advanced equipment.

Levy and her husband, Mike Levy, both are licensed by the Federal 
Communications Commission to operate ham radios. Police said they 
confiscated her license.

Ronald Baker, of Hemet, is president of the Lee DeForest Amateur Radio Club 
of Hemet. He said he has known Irene Levy for only a short time but has 
known Mike Levy for 10 years.

If the charges are true, "this from his wife is most unusual," Baker said. 
"She seemed like a normal, down-to-earth person."

Mike Levy, he said, "is a stickler for the law. He's been involved with 
police, fire and ambulance assistance. He's been a decent person."

Such instances of ham radio abuse are rare, Baker said. He's been an 
operator since 1952 and has seen such instances once every two or three 
years - and never so close to home, he said.

In times of disaster, ham operators often are relied upon to provide a 
backup emergency radio system. Other times, operators just spend time 
talking with one another. Baker said he expects a lot of chatter regarding 
Levy's arrest.

Staff writers Brian Rokos and Mark Muckenfuss contributed to this report. 
Reach John Asbury at 951-763-3451 or jasbury at PE.com




The Associated Press State & Local Wire

May 4, 2010 Tuesday 4:41 PM GMT

SoCal woman accused of disrupting police radio

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL

LENGTH: 125 words

DATELINE: SAN JACINTO Calif.

An amateur radio operator has been arrested in Riverside County after 
allegedly disrupting police and fire radio communications over two days and 
making a bomb threat.

Hemet police say Irene Levy was arrested Monday at her mobile home in San 
Jacinto, where authorities seized 11 radios and seven scanners.

The 29-year-old woman remained jailed Tuesday.

Police Lt. Mark Richards says Levy randomly broadcast remarks on state fire 
and Hemet police radio frequencies beginning Saturday evening and ending 
just before her arrest.

Authorities say that she made at least one bomb threat an disrupted 
communications during a search-and-rescue call, a fire and a major traffic 
accident response.

Information from: Southwest Riverside News Network, http://www.swrnn.com