On Sunday, August 15th, 2021, at 5:51 pm, the Turlock Police Department was dispatched to a security check at Park Knolls Apartments, 1100 Pedras Rd, Turlock. Dispatch had received a call on the non-emergency line with sounds of a male and female screaming in the background. Dispatch was able to lookup history with the phone number that the call came from and determined it belonged to Kyle Denton, 29, of Turlock, a resident of Park Knolls Apartments.
Officers responded to Denton’s apartment and made contact with his mother who claimed that he was not at home and at work in Modesto. Officers spoke to Denton on the phone who claimed that his phone was malfunctioning and that he did not make the call. Officers cleared the scene.
A short time later, several more calls came in from Denton with similar sounds of screaming, Denton heavily breathing, and whispering to dispatch that someone was inside his apartment. Dispatch ignored the calls as they knew that he was not at his apartment and they had history of him reporting similar events in the past, all of which were unfounded.
The following day, dispatch received more calls from Denton, stating that someone with a gun was inside his apartment. Officers responded to the apartment again and confirmed that Denton was not there. Denton then told dispatch that he ran away from his apartment and was hiding somewhere on the Stanislaus State campus near their police station. Both Turlock and Stanislaus State officers checked the area surrounding the university police station and were unable to locate Denton.
Another officer who was in the area of Pedras Rd and N Golden State Blvd, Turlock, at the time observed Denton drive into his apartment complex in his mother’s vehicle, from a direction opposite of Stanislaus State, where Denton had claimed to be. That officer stopped Denton and detained him. After determining that Denton was intentionally making the phone calls with the intent to annoy dispatchers and officers, Denton was placed under arrest.
Denton had made a total of 39 prank phone calls in the two days. The sounds of screaming are believed to be recordings that Denton played.
Denton was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of making annoying and repeated phone calls.
