The disgruntled middle-aged lifelong Williamsburg resident who was found guilty of making phony complaint calls to 911 about the hipster hooligans running amok in his neighborhood has been sentenced. Louis Segna, 53, was sentenced to six months in prison (and five years probation) on Wednesday for making various 911 calls about made-up events near his home at Bedford Avenue and North 7th Street in late 2012.
"He acted recklessly," explained Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice William Harrington in handing down the sentence. "This was a severe case given the nature of the calls, but thankfully nobody was hurt...I don’t think he had the firmest grasp of what he unleashed when he made those phone calls."
Although he was only convicted on three counts of falsely reporting an incident, Segna allegedly made 403 phony calls, describing made-up violent confrontations and explosions around the neighborhood. "He said there are hipsters in the neighborhood. He gave me the impression they were noisier than the population before," defense attorney William Fowlkes previously said.
Among other things: he claimed a man pulled a knife on him at Spike Hill, he claimed two or three shots were fired at Station restaurant, and he claimed there was an explosion in a nearby subway tunnel (although he claimed not to know which subway he lived near). He would tell the dispatcher he was using borrowed phones (he told the operator in one call he "didn't own a phone") and wouldn't give his name (except when he gave a fake name). You can hear several of the calls here.
"I’m going through a lot of stress,” Segna said in court during a rambling speech. "I don’t have any money because of everything that is happening." Fowlkes described his client as "developmentally delayed," adding that his mental condition "deteriorated drastically" during his stay at Rikers Island.
