Radio Pirate Arrested With 1990s Radio

A 30 year-old Smyrna (Tenn.) man was arrested after police tracked down his pirate radio broadcasts using a 1990s-era portable radio programmed with Rutherford County sheriff’s dispatch and tactical frequencies. Sheriff’s dispatchers said a male voice came onto the radio channel, claimed he was a Murfreesboro officer–using an actual officer’s name–and said an armed robbery had just occurred. Officials said dispatchers realized the transmission was bogus, and the suspect then radio a profanity in frustration. Oddly, the suspect, Thomas Gilbert, then called the officer he had named and apologized. That officer then called the comm center with the suspect’s ID, and officers quickly located him at home. Murfreesboro operates a 460 MHz conventional repeated radio system. Police say they are investigating the origin of the radio and battery charger that Gilbert had, but say they date back to the 1990s.