Swatting Hoax Sends Cops Racing To Empty Paramus Home, Here's Who They Say Was Behind It

Joseph D. Monticello, 39, of East Hanover, was arrested after investigators determined he deliberately fabricated the report, Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti said.

The incident unfolded on Friday, March 7, at approximately 11:40 a.m., when Paramus Police Communications received an anonymous 911 call claiming that three to four masked men were loading items into a white van outside a home. The caller abruptly disconnected without providing further details, authorities said.

Officers rushed to the scene and found an open back garage door and an open basement door, police said. A full search of the home found no intruders or signs of forced entry. Additional units canvassed the area for the reported white van but found nothing matching the description.

Detective Sgt. Nicholas Luciano launched an investigation and spoke with the homeowner, who said he was not home at the time of the alleged burglary. A review of the homeowner’s security footage confirmed that no suspicious activity had taken place, authorities said.

Police determined the report was a hoax and classified it as a "swatting" incident—a criminal act of making a false emergency call to trigger a heavy law enforcement response.

Through digital forensic techniques and voice recognition analysis, Detective Sergeant Luciano traced the call back to Monticello, officials said. After confirming the report was false, police charged Monticello with third-degree false public alarm and fourth-degree false reports to law enforcement.

This is not Monticello's first run-in with the law: Last May, he was arrested for shoplifting in Fairfield, and in 2021, he was charged with simple assault in Morristown, court records show. He has various traffic offenses dating back years and one drug charge in the early 2000s, records show.

“The Paramus Police Department takes false emergency reports extremely seriously, as they divert critical resources from actual emergencies and create unnecessary panic within the community,” police said in a statement.

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