Opinion ID: 78113
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Crimes and Arrest

Text: For eleven days in early September 2003, the Macon-Bibb County 911 Center received a series of disturbing calls from the same unidentified caller. Using several different cellular telephones and a computer generated voice, the caller tried to extort money by threatening to bomb and gas various locations throughout the City of Macon, Georgia. On September 11, 2003, federal agents traced one of the calls to a local residence and found themselves at the home of Eddie Milton Garey. When agents entered to execute a search warrant, they discovered Garey on the phone with a 911 operator. Scattered throughout the house were four cellular phones bearing phone numbers linked to the threatening 911 calls. Installed on Garey's computer was a text-to-speech program called CrazyTalk which spoke in a computerized voice when words were entered on the keyboard. On the basis of this evidence, Garey was taken into custody and was later indicted on eleven counts of obstructing justice, five counts of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, five counts of making a threat affecting interstate commerce, five counts of manufacturing counterfeit securities, and one count of possessing ammunition as a convicted felon. Almost immediately following Garey's arrest, the Government asked the court to order a competency evaluation. Following a ten-hour assessment that included personal interviews, standardized mental health examinations, and a review of Garey's personal writings and social history, Garey was diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder with antisocial and narcissistic features. The psychiatrists responsible for the competency evaluation also concluded Garey had normal intelligence and understood the proceedings and charges against him. [1] When the evaluation was completed, Garey stipulated to his competency to stand trial.