Friday, September 08, 2000
Suspect in prank calls: no contest
Plea comes with hope for leniency
By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — Larry Mullins, suspected of making dozens of prank phone calls to relatives of murder and traffic accident victims, pleaded no contest Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of telephone harassment.
The harassment charge stems from a phone call he made May 15, the day after Mother's Day, to a Morgan Township woman whose daughter-in-law had been killed in a traffic accident 10 years ago.
After Mr. Mullins entered the no-contest plea, Judge Rob Lyons of Butler County Area I Court found him guilty of the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Evaluation ordered
“This is a strange, strange situation,” Judge Lyons said to Mr. Mullins and his attorney, Carl Ferris.
Mr. Mullins, 58, who is unemployed and lives in Hamilton, will be sentenced Nov. 9.
Judge Lyons ordered a psychological evaluation and a presentence investigation.
He also told Mr. Mullins he is to have no contact with Sherle Weartz, the Morgan Township woman he had called, or any other victims.
“No, never,” Mr. Mullins promised.
The judge allowed him to remain free on bond.
Mr. Mullins had been scheduled to stand trial Thursday. But Mr. Ferris said his client decided to plead no contest after reviewing the evidence against him and considering the options.
In Mr. Mullins' phone call to Mrs. Weartz, he talked about her daughter-in-law's death and insisted on speaking with the victim's daughter, now 12.
Police have said Mr. Mul lins has made more than 100 calls to relatives of victims of crimes and fatal traffic accidents years after the tragedies oc
curred.
He often made the calls on the anniversaries of the tragedies, and he didn't know any of the people he called, police said.
Police confiscated from his house more than 230 journals containing newspaper clippings and notes about missing persons, crimes and fatal accidents.
Mr. Ferris said keeping the journals was “kind of a hobby” to Mr. Mullins.
“As to why he made the phone calls, I don't think there's a good reason,” he said.
He said he hoped the no-contest plea would cause the judge to consider a more lenient sentence for Mr. Mullins.
More complaints
Butler County Sheriff's Detective Katie McMahon told Judge Lyons that since Mr. Mullins' case first received publicity, she and other investigators have received about eight telephone harassment complaints from crime and traffic accident victims.
By checking Mr. Mullins' journals, detectives determined that he made the telephone calls to those people, she said.
But the victims did not want to press charges, she said.
“It was a big relief to them to find out that it was him who was making the phone calls,” Detective McMahon said.
The sheriff's department has no plans to bring additional charges against Mr. Mullins but will investigate any new telephone harassment complaints, she said.
Mr. Ferris said Mr. Mullins is sorry for any pain he caused the people he called.
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