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COLONIE – A 38-year-old Rotterdam man was arrested on Sunday, May 6, and charged with making a number of fake reports to police.
The exact motive remains a mystery, but police are surmising Shawn Fountain called police as a distraction while he drove around with a suspended license, according to Lt. Robert Winn.
Last week, police posted on Facebook a recording of the man, who called himself Steve, making one of the reports and Fountain was identified based on that post and subsequent media coverage. Niskayuna police were also receiving fake reports, according to Winn, and they too had developed a potential suspect.
On Saturday, May 5, at around 12:12 p.m. police located Fountain’s 2004 Jeep Liberty, unoccupied in Latham.
A short time later, police received a fake call about a fight in the Walmart parking lot on Loudon Road. When police went to investigate that call, the Jeep disappeared.
Later that night, Schenectady police located the vehicle and Fountain and brought him to the Colonie Police Department.
Fountain was charged with filing seven fake reports:
-A March 22 accident on Route 9
-An April 10 accident on Route 7
-An April 19 fight on Route 7
-An April 20 neighbor dispute on Scully Avenue
-An April 29 car fire on Route 7
-A May 3 dead deer in the road on Route 7
-A May 5 fight at Walmart on Route 9
Colonie police were assisted by the Capital Region Crime Analysis Center and Niskayuna and Schenectady police departments.
Fountain stands charged with felony falsely reporting an incident and six misdemeanors of the same. He was sent to the Albany County jail pending arraignment.