A Fort Lauderdale man is being accused of being a real fire starter after he made eight bogus phone calls claiming several prominent downtown buildings were on fire.
Of course, they were all false alarms, but police picked up Jerry Tyrone O'Neal as he sat near a phone booth were he made the fake calls.
Fire trucks didn't roll on all of the calls, but operators had to take the threats seriously initially. O'Neal claimed the Sun-Sentinel building, the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute and the downtown Hilton were on fire. O'Neal also called 911 and said a nearby Pizza Hut was also ablaze.
If there were questions about O'Neal's mental stability, they were quickly answered when a judge asked the man where he lived.
"Switzerland," O'Neal responded.
The judge quickly ordered a mental eval and a $12,000 bond.
