Police say man made false report of child being drowned

CELINA, Ohio (WANE) - Police in Celina are looking for a man accused of making a false report about someone placing a child in Grand Lake and holding that child down with a rock.

Authorities say the suspect called the Mercer County Sheriff's Department Wednesday and said he'd seen someone lay a motionless child down on the concrete pad by the lighthouse that's located on the northwest corner of Grand Lake. He called a second time to report that the person had put the child in the water and held him or her down with a rock. 

Emergency crews didn't find anything at the scene but decided to check shoreline, both in and out of the water, to make sure there wasn't a victim.

"We checked with witnesses," David Slusser, the chief of the Celina Police Department, said.  "We talked with people in the area, and couldn't find anybody who saw what matched the description of what was going on."

While crews searched, investigators reviewed video from a surveillance camera from the Celina Water Treatment Plant and it showed that no one was in the area at the time of the call.

"All-in-all, crews were probably at the scene for two hours," Slusser said.  "And we have as much as three and a half to four hours tied up in the investigation."

Officers were able to obtain the telephone number of the original caller, which had been blocked at the time of the call. The person who answered that number denied any knowledge of the call and said he was in the Chicago area. Later in the evening the number was linked to the investigation when the person who was named in the original call as a suspect identified it as belonging to John Robert (J.R.) Walsh, 29, from Marion, Indiana. 

"He initially made denials of being involved," Slusser said.  "But during the telephone interview, he came around to the fact he had been involved in making those calls."

Arrangements were made for Walsh to come to the Celina Police Department for a full interview, but he didn't show up. A warrant has been issued for a first degree misdemeanor charge of Making a False Alarm. Due to the monetary costs of the emergency services response, it's expected that felony charges may still be filed. He's still at large.

Estimates indicate the total cost to public agencies will be over the $1000.00 threshold that would allow a fifth degree felony to be filed, but less that the $7500 threshold that would make the charge a fourth degree felony.

Slusser said Ohio law does not give police the authority to to get help from police agencies from outside of Ohio  to go after someone wanted for a misdemeanor.  Police can seek assistance however when looking for someone wanted for a felony.

"We work for taxpayer dollars," Slusser said.  "That was a tremendous waste of taxpayer money for us to respond to that call.  If we can hold someone accountable and retrieve those funds that the taxpayers have paid out, then we're going to do it."

Slusser said Friday afternoon he expected a felony charge to be filed next week.