CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ)– A Bellefonte man is accused of using a dating app to send numerous people to a woman’s home and lying to 911 when reporting that her residence was on fire.
Timothy Coble, 40, harassed a woman for months, by using the “Grindr” app to give out her address to multiple people, and even reporting to 911 that her home was on fire when it wasn’t, Spring Township police said in the charges filed.
Five times police were able to talk with the message recipients who reported they were told to “walk in” and showed officers the dating app account, who were able to recognize Coble, according to the criminal complaint.
The investigation into Cobble began in June 2022, after a woman reported that three different people came to her home within an hour. Police were able to talk with one of them and learned that Coble was using a fake account to give out the woman’s address, the complaint reads.
Later in July, Coble texted the woman saying “maybe one of our strange friends will come for you” along with other harassing messages, police said.
The woman reported that she knew Coble as he had asked her previously to rent two of her homes to his friends, but following a background check, his friend’s applications were denied. Following the woman reporting the threatening messages to police, Coble was told to not send her any more messages but sent her one about a half hour after talking to police, the complaint reads.
Coble also put in a false report in November to 911 that the woman’s home was on fire, police said. An officer arrived to the home after being dispatched for a fire, but when they arrived they saw no signs of a fire and when asked the woman said there was none.
While investigating, officers learned that the call came from Coble’s house, and then they also identified his voice from the recordings. Coble was asked if he made the call to 911 but he denied it, police said.
In January, police then went to interview Coble at his home along Jacksonville Road. Coble admitted to messaging people on the app and also that he made the false report about her home being on fire, police said.
Coble faces felony charges of criminal use of communication facility, criminal trespassing, and misdemeanor charges of stalking, harassment, false alarm to agency of public safety, false reports and disorderly conduct.
Coble is out on unsecured bail set at $50,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8.