People News

Celebrity prank caller arrested

Dec 20, 2012, 6:01 GMT

Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber's homes were targeted in a series of elaborate prank burglaries by a 12-year-old child.

Police were called to the 34-year-old 'Two And A Half Men' star and the 18-year-old Canadian popstar's homes, along with a number of other celebrity owned properties over the past few months, after they received anonymous calls claiming the houses were being robbed and in some cases victims had been taken hostage.

According to gossip website TMZ.com, a 12-year-old suspect from California has been arrested for making the prank 911 calls.

Insiders have revealed that the boy lives with his mother in what has been described as an 'incredibly dysfunctional' home and refused to attend school recently because he prefers communicating with other hackers on his computer but arrangements are now being made to move him into a more stable foster home.

Authorities are said to be eager for the troubled boy to receive counselling rather than a punishment for his crimes and if it completes a counselling program, all charges are expected to be dropped.

The prank burglary at Ashton's Hollywood home last October cost the taxpayers of Los Angeles more than £6,000 ($10,000) in wasted police manpower and other resources.

Police rushed to the star's Arrowhead Drive mansion after receiving a distress call from a person who claimed they were the victim of a violent home invasion robbery. Later that month, a call was placed to emergency services, with the person on the line claiming someone was waving a gun next to Justin's Los Angeles home.

Police were called to Simon Cowell's home last month in what was the latest in a string of celebrity swattings this year - a deliberate attempt to trick an emergency service into dispatching a response team - and officers were also called to Miley Cyrus' home in August after a caller claimed her home had been broken in to but when they arrived at the scene, they discovered it was empty.