BOSTON (AP) – Police have identified a man suspected of making hoax phone calls to fast food restaurants in Massachusetts and around the country and encouraging management to strip search employees and in at least one case, a customer.

An investigation that involved law enforcement agencies from multiple states, as well as security personnel for AT&T and Wal-Mart, led to David R. Stewart, 38, of Fountain, Fla., said Lt. Raymund Rogers of the West Bridgewater police.

Stewart was arrested on Thursday at his home on a fugitive from justice warrant from Mount Washington, Ky., Rogers said, where the suspect allegedly made a hoax call to a local McDonald’s.

A search of Stewart’s home and car on Wednesday turned up calling cards and other evidence, Rogers said.

Investigators had previously determined that the suspect was making the calls from pay phones in the Panama City, Fla. area using pre-paid calling cards bought at local Wal-Mart stores.

A message left on an answering machine at Stewart’s home on Thursday evening was not immediately returned. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Stewart, who recently worked as a correctional officer for the Bay County, Fla. Corrections Department, is alleged to have called restaurants around the country identifying himself as either management or law enforcement. The caller would then persuade managers to detain and search employees for drugs or money.

At a Taco Bell in Fountain Hills, Ariz., the caller persuaded the manager to strip search a 17-year-old female customer last March.

At Wendy’s restaurants in West Bridgewater, Abington, Whitman and Wareham, the caller persuaded managers to strip search employees in February.

Stewart has not been charged in Massachusetts. Police must submit their evidence to the district attorney’s office to determine if and what charges will be filed, Rogers said. A call to a spokeswoman for Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz was not immediately returned on Thursday.

The calls to the Massachusetts Wendy’s stores were traced to Panama City, Fla., Rogers said. With the help of Wal-Mart security, police watched hundreds of hours of store surveillance tapes to identify the suspect.

Law enforcement agencies from Maricopa County, Ariz., Miami, Ohio, Portland, Maine, and Dubuque, Iowa helped in the investigation, Rogers said.

“Everybody was on the same page,” he said. “AT&T and Wal-Mart security people were fantastic with the amount of information they provided.”

Some restaurant managers have been criminally charged for going along with the caller, but none of the managers at the Massachusetts Wendy’s have been criminally charged because police consider them victims of the hoax. At least one civil complaint has been filed against a Wendy’s manager in Massachusetts.

AP-ES-07-01-04 2034EDT

Copy the Story Link