They figured out who pulled the fire alarm boxes in front of three fire stations in Millcreek Township, PA (Erie County) very early Sunday morning. Seven people were arrested today. Four of them are members of the Lake Shore Fire Company, where one of the Gamewell boxes was activated. But not just any members. They are the chief, the assistant chief, the captain and a lieutenant. The other three charged are also volunteer firefighters.
Police identified the defendants as Brian R. Salvatore, 24, chief of the Lake Shore Fire Co; Robert Burt, 33, assistant chief at Lake Shore; Jason Winston, 23, a captain at Lake Shore; Sara O’Brien, 22, a lieutenant at Lake Shore; Richard Hartline, 28; Philip Jackson, 21; and a juvenile female.
Millcreek police Capt. Harry Love said all seven defendants are volunteer firefighters. The ranks of the four defendants affiliated with Lake Shore are based on information on the fire company’s Web site. The affiliations of the three other defendants could not be immediately determined.
The seven are accused of activating box alarms at West Ridge Fire Department, West Lake Fire Department and Lake Shore Fire Co., police said. Some of the defendants gave statements admitting their involvement, police said in the criminal complaint.
The alarms went off 2:48 a.m. and 3:18 a.m. Sunday, police said. Love said the alarm boxes mounted on the fire stations are similar to the old Gamewell alarm boxes that for years were posted on telephone poles and other public places in the city of Erie.
The boxes posted on the Millcreek fire stations are designed for the public to use to signal an emergency and summon volunteers for help.
All seven defendants are charged with the misdemeanors of criminal conspiracy, false alarms to public agencies and recklessly endangering another person. Police said Salvatore, Burt, Winston and O’Brien are also charged with corruption of minors.
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WTF, these guys should be let go from their Volunteer duties. A 24 yr old chief?? too young in my opinion.
Why?
Must have wanted to up their run totals for the month. Somewhere in this country, there is a village that is missing some idiots.
Im glad that both the people that left comments on this arent man enough to leave their names. I was involved in this little incident, and all of us are back to active duties. None of you know any of us, and what we did for our respective fire departments. This was all a political stunt pulled by the township supervisors of Millcreek Township, with the help of the West Lake Fire Department. This prank was not meant to "up our call totals for the month" as a matter of fact all of the individuals involved already answered plenty of calls for the month and didnt need to "up the totals". To say that a village is missing some idiots… you're absolutely correct so why dont you go back to it! This prank has been pulled in this area for years, but some people with a bug up their A$$ who has also been involved in prank like this decided to turn everyone in. If anyone else wants to leave anything and actually post your name I'll be more than happy to respond to your comments also. This has gone on too long and our names have been run through the dirt too much. Its time to stop!!