Woman Charged After Tying Up Police With 450+ Phone Calls

Police decided to charge Harding after she called to complain about her son “not picking up after the cat.”

File photo.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – A Lawrenceburg woman was arrested for calling local law enforcement more than 450 times in fewer than three months.

Linda S. Harding was charged Thursday, March 29 with Harassment (class B misdemeanor) in Dearborn Superior Court II.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Lawrenceburg Police, Harding called the department 205 times since January 1, 2018. In the same time period, she dialed up the Dearborn County Dispatch Center 251 times. Lawrenceburg Police sent an officer to respond to one of Harding’s calls 51 times.

Harding had been warned about the non-stop calls to police. The last straw came on Wednesday, March 28 when Harding called the LPD in reference to her son “not picking up after the cat.” Harding had already called the department four times that morning with officers responding at least once before.

Police met with Harding’s case worker with Community Mental Health Center. The case worker said she had called him already 20 times that day. He said there was nothing he could do to stop her from the constant calling.

“Linda is putting citizens in Lawrenceburg in danger by the harassment and tying up of emergency resources for non-emergency issues,” police wrote in the affidavit.

Harding has been ordered by a judge to make no calls to the police department or dispatch unless there is a real emergency.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 29. Harding has requested a trial by jury.