Woman charged with filing false report following hoax 911 call

Published 5:11 pm Thursday, November 10, 2022

A Carter County woman was arrested Wednesday on felony charges following an incident over the weekend where a 911 caller reported a shooting that was determined to be a hoax.

Deputies arrested Angelia Michelle Robinson, age 50, of 119 Shenandoah Drive, Apt. 10, Johnson City, on Wednesday on a warrant charging her with two counts of filing a false report.

The charges against Robinson stem from an investigation that began Sunday afternoon when a woman called 911 and reported someone had been shot at a residence on Woodland Drive off Milligan Highway. The caller told 911 dispatchers there were two males and three females located in the basement of the residence and one of the men had shot the other man and was still armed. She also told dispatchers the females were being held against their will inside the home.

Deputies of the Carter County Sheriff’s Department responded to the residence on Woodland Drive along with additional officers of the Elizabethton Police Department due to the report of a shooting with the suspect still armed inside the residence. Carter County Sheriff Mike Fraley said officers entered the residence, but no one was found inside and there was no evidence a shooting had occurred.

After the residence was cleared, Sheriff Fraley said officers then went to a nearby convenience store where the 911 caller was asked to wait so they could speak with her, but when officers arrived the woman had left the scene.

“We began investigating the incident, speaking to the homeowner and working with Carter County 911 to determine everything we could about the call,” Fraley said.

With assistance from Carter County 911, officers were able to identify the 911 caller as Angelia Michelle Robinson. Officers spoke to the homeowner, who was able to provide them with security camera footage that showed Ms. Robinson pulling into the driveway of the residence on Woodland Drive and walking around the property while talking on a phone at the same time as the 911 call was placed.

“This was not the first time Ms. Robinson had made a 911 call falsely reporting things,” Fraley said.

Through the 911 records, officers learned that on October 30, Robinson made a call to 911 stating she had witnessed two subjects sexually assaulting a 6-year-old child and that a male subject was being held against his will and tortured in the basement of a residence.

Following the investigation, officers obtained a warrant charging Robinson with two counts of filing a false report.

“Due to the severity of the nature of the two false calls which were made, we decided to press charges against Robinson,” Fraley said. “We take every 911 call seriously, and false calls to 911 and hoaxes will not be dealt with lightly.

“Calling in and falsely reporting something as serious as a shooting or a child being hurt puts our entire community at risk as it pulls officers away from legitimate calls where our citizens truly need our help,” Fraley added. “Especially when a department is experiencing staffing shortages it stretches our resources as we have to pull all of our officers to respond to something as serious as a report of someone being shot and an armed subject holding people against their will inside a home.”

Fraley praised the work of his officers in responding to and investigating the incident. “I also want to praise the work done by Carter County 911 in assisting us with this investigation and the Elizabethton Police Department in helping us to respond to the scene on Sunday,” Fraley said.

Officers arrested Robinson on Wednesday, and she was booked into the Carter County Detention Center. She was later released after posting a $5,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in Carter County General Sessions Court on November 28.