A man with a history of telephone harassment is now accused of multiple incidents involving dispatchers at Porter County Central Communications, court records show.
Charles David Powell, 77, of Peru, Illinois, was recently charged with a Level 6 felony of impersonating a police officer.
On May 22, Powell is accused of phoning Porter County’s 911 center from an address in Portage and telling the dispatchers he was “John Grasby,” a police officer from Montana, court records show.
In addition, Powell faces a misdemeanor charge of harassment.
From an address in Valparaiso, Powell is accused of calling Porter County 911 six times on January 20.
When a woman dispatcher would answer, Powell would spew vile, vulgar, demeaning language and demand to talk with a male. He was told to stop calling, but persisted in continuing the calls that day, the court record shows.
Portage Police Sgt. Flora McHenry, who investigated the case, said she found that Powell had a prior conviction for telephone harassment in 2016, in Clallam County, Washington.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.