http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/sumner/2016/09/27/4-cited-clown-prank-portland/91185074/
Four people were cited in Portland Monday after they played a prank with two of them wearing clown masks, Portland Police Department Chief Anthony Heavner said Tuesday.
The individuals were cited under a city ordinance making it unlawful for anyone older than 10 to wear in public masks or clothes that disguise the wearer’s identity. The law has exceptions not met in this case, Heavner said.
Nicholas Douglas, 20, and Mark Sloan, 24, were cited with violating the ordinance. Mark Sloan’s brother Matthew Sloan, 26, and the latter’s wife Candice Sloan, 22, were cited as accessories to violating the ordinance. They’re scheduled to appear in Portland City Court on Oct. 20, Heavner said.
Suspicious clowns and other masked individuals should be reported, state authorities say, especially after a non-local fatality Sunday.
State and local police urge residents to call in all unusual behaviors to the nearest law enforcement agency. The warning comes in light of several incidences in Tennessee and beyond involving people disguised as clowns who have threatened and scared people and children.
Citations stem from a photograph of Douglas and Mark Sloan wearing clown masks and laying low in a grassy area near Portland High School. The photo began circulating and was shared numerous times on social media on Sept. 22, causing undue panic after cases in other areas of clowns committing devious acts, Heavner said.
The investigation revealed one of the four people was afraid of clowns and the rest decided to play a prank to scare him, and they did. After the four realized what they intended as a practical joke was getting negative attention, they “got scared” and took the photo offline. Police have confiscated the masks Douglas and Sloan wore, Heavner said.
Portland police received another call Tuesday morning reporting a clown was riding a bicycle near Highways 109 and 52. The report was false and police found a person riding a bike wearing a safety vest with flashing lights to warn traffic, Heavner said.
Fatal incident
“A teenager in Pennsylvania was fatally stabbed Sunday in an incident involving a person wearing a clown mask,” said Megan Buell, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. “We’ve had incidences in Tennessee where people dressed up as scary clowns have been arrested for misconduct. The overall message is: if you see something out of the ordinary, we want you to report it to your local authority.”
A 16-year-old, 10th-grade high school student Christian Torres died on a front porch of a home from stab wounds in Reading, Pa. on Sept. 25. The injuries were caused during a dispute that broke out after a person showed up wearing a clown mask in a close-knit neighborhood, the Reading Eagle newspaper reported Monday.
Reading is about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
“Our phone has been ringing off the wall since Thursday. PPD and other agencies have received numerous reports of clowns being spotted in wooded areas near schools and parks,” Heavner said, citing clown reports. “It’s interfering with emergency services. It’s tying up our resources, chasing clowns and our tail. We’re taking a minimal approach to this to stop the craziness. The citations seem to have quietened things quite a bit.”
‘Do not confront them’
Hendersonville police officers responded to a reported suspicious person dressed as a clown on Walton Ferry Road between Luna Lane and Hickory Heights Drive around 10 p.m. on Sept. 23, Detective Sgt. Jim Vaughn said.
“They said a male dressed like a clown jumped into the road,” Vaughn said. “I don’t know how they determined it was a male. We went there and we found no clowns. If anyone sees anything like this, contact the police. Do not confront them.”
A Hendersonville ordinance also forbids publicly wearing masks or clothing that conceals a person’s identity.
In Cross Plains, a photograph of a clown taken near the four-way stop at Highway 25 and East Robertson Road was circulating on social media Tuesday afternoon.
"All we have are people coming up saying they’ve heard there’s a clown here," Cross Plains Police Chief James Yates said. "There's no evidence that the clown has done anything malicious."
Halloween is also nearing, which is also a time when more pranks can occur, Yates said.
"We want people to know that there will be consequences for any type of criminal activity, behavior or disorderly conduct involving such pranks," he said.
A clown was also spotted in nearby White House earlier this week.
White House police responded at 10 p.m. Sunday to a report of a clown walking on a sidewalk at Mt Vernon Apartments on the city’s Robertson County side. Officers found nothing on arrival and no report was taken, Chief Pat Brady said.
“We were not able to substantiate anything,” Brady said. “We don’t want to start a panic saying there’s an issue.”
Much attention was raised after the Tennessee Highway Patrol issued a warning on social media Saturday cautioning people to look for clowns trying to lure children into the woods. The warning said the clowns are possibly child predators looking for easy targets and asked people to supervise their children and call 911 or THP at *847 if they see anything suspicious.
The photo with the warning was initially said to be the latest clown image from Jackson. Later after the warning was taken down, Buell said the image “is not local.” Portland police said on their Facebook the image belongs to a performance group in Plymouth, N.H. and was circulated online without their permission.
“Do not buy into this,” PPD said online. “Re-sharing stories on FB only generate fear and will ultimately result to something dangerous. It is a HOAX!”
Buell urges watchfulness.
“This is not an assault on clowns," Buell said. "This is about promoting awareness because unfortunately people are dressing up as scary clowns to cause problems in the communities. Bottom line, it is a public safety issue.”
