Police Charge Fort Lee Man With ‘False Public Alarms’

Police charged a Fort Lee man Friday with “False Public Alarms” stemming from a June 6 incident in which the man allegedly posted notes on a telephone pole and the front door of his own residence suggesting someone inside was either injured, suicidal or in need of help.

James Giaconnie, 45, of 490 Jane St. in Fort Lee, turned himself in to Fort Lee police Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

“A passerby [on a bicycle] alerted police to notes that were posted to a telephone pole, around and on the front door of 490 Jane St.,” said Fort Lee Police D/Sgt. Kenneth Porrino. “The notes made reference to someone possibly leaving the door open so someone could go and hurt the resident inside. Also on the note, it stated for someone to please call the police and that the person who may have posted the note was afraid for their life.”

Responding officers initially believed they may have been dealing with either a suicidal or an injured person inside the residence after reading the notes, police said, and the Fort Lee Police Emergency Services Unit was called to the scene. 

“These officers came into contact with a resident of 490 Jane St., and it was determined that his family was on the first floor,” Porrino said. “It was unknown if anyone was occupying the second floor.”  

The Emergency Services Unit entered the first floor residence, evacuating the occupants, and had to make a forced entry into the second floor residence, which turned out to be unoccupied, police said.   

A subsequent investigation by the Fort Lee Detective Bureau determined that Giaconnie was allegedly responsible for writing and posting the notes, according to police, who issued a warrant for his arrest. 

The charge of False Public Alarms is a third degree crime (N.J.S.A. 2C:33-3), according to New Jersey criminal code, of which a suspect is guilty if he or she “initiates or circulates a report or warning of an impending fire, explosion, bombing, crime, catastrophe or emergency knowing that the report or warning is false or baseless and that it is likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport, or to cause public inconvenience or alarm.”

Giaconnie was released on his own recognizance Friday pending a court date, police said.