Nov 19, 2002 By Steve Ferris 2 min read

An 18-year-old Uniontown man was held for court on charges that he made prank calls to the Fayette County 911 dispatch center last Tuesday. Joseph Parker was ordered held for court on charges of terroristic threats, false reports to a public safety agency and four counts of harassment by communications by Uniontown District Justice Mark Blair.

Blair made his ruling following a hearing in which Uniontown Police Chief Kyle Sneddon testified that he and other officers watched pay phones in front of the old V&G Foodland and Michael’s Take Out on North Gallatin Avenue at approximately 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 after the dispatch center had already received several hang-up calls from those phones.

Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr., Sneddon said he was hidden in an alley about 40 yards away when he saw two young men walk towards the phones.

He said he could not see the phones, but was informed over the radio that calls to 911 had just been made from both phones and one of the calls was a bomb threat.

Three suspects – Parker and two juveniles – were apprehended by several officers after a foot pursuit, Sneddon said.

Sgt. Fred Balsley testified that he was watching the phones from his personal vehicle in a near by parking lot and saw two men walk past V&G and then a third man joined them.

One walked to the phone in front of V&G, two went to Michael’s and then two calls were made to 911 from those phones at the same time, Balsley said.

Under cross examination by public defender Mary Spegar, Balsley said he learned from the dispatch center that the bomb threat came from the phone at V&G. He said Parker made his call from the phone at Michael’s.

Blair agreed to reduce Parker’s bail from $15,000 straight to 10 percent.