Woman in Sharon called 911 five times because she couldn’t use home Wi-Fi

A woman called 911 five times because the person with whom she was staying wouldn’t allow her to use the Wi-Fi, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies on Saturday responded to a home on Hickory Grove Road in Sharon after the suspect called 911 for a fifth time “saying that she was in fear for her life because she didn’t have access to Wi-Fi,” according to a sheriff’s report.

The 49-year-old woman, who is from Houston, told deputies she had been in South Carolina for three weeks and wasn’t allowed to use the home’s Wi-Fi or phone because she ran up the bill calling people in Texas and Indiana.

The owner of the home where the suspect was staying told deputies he allowed her to stay there if she cleaned the home. After three weeks, the homeowner said, the suspect had run up a large phone bill with the long-distance calls.

None of the five calls to 911 were emergencies, the suspect told deputies, adding that she “just wanted help from law enforcement to have (the homeowner) allow her to use the phone.” She was charged with unlawful use of 911.

The homeowner told deputies the suspect was using the home phone for 12 to 16 hours each day, mostly talking to people in other states that she meets online.

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Woman in Sharon called 911 five times because she couldn’t use home Wi-Fi."