Two men are facing criminal charges after a trick they played on a colleague sparked a major investigation and shut down a grand jury trial.
A prank on a colleague by two co-workers failed miserably and could carry significant repercussions for the duo.
The incident started after detectives in Arizona, US, were alerted to a threat against the men’s colleague who was serving as the foreman on a grand jury proceeding.
The Arizona Daily Independent reported that the foreman told police he had found a handwritten note on his truck reading: ‘You better not find my dad guilty! I followed you home last Wednesday. I know where you live, a--hole! Early Road sound familiar.'
The trail was halted as the note was investigated. Police traced the note, which had been written on a notepad commonly used in restaurants, to a nearby diner. A waitress recognised the note as she had found a similar one by the cash register, and that the handwriting was that of another employee.
When detectives spoke to that employee she revealed the prank. Two men had asked her to re-write a note as the planned to play a joke on their co-worker, the grand jury foreman. They had asked her to rewrite the note so their friend could not recognise their writing.
Investigators then traced the credit card used to pay the bill to track down the prank masters; Will Packard and Robert Marquez.
Packard confirmed to police it was prank, and that the two had taken photos of the note on the truck and had planned to tell their colleague once he returned to work.
Police were accepting of the explanation, however the Sheriff Paul Babeu said the implications of the prank – especially the interruption of a grand jury – were too serious to ignore.
'Hopefully the men find it as funny when they are involved with the judicial process as detectives will submit the investigation to the County Attorney's Office and ask they review the case for criminal charges, including Influencing a Juror, Disorderly Conduct and Threatening and Intimidating,' Babeu told the Arizona Daily Independent.
The case is currently being reviewed.
