— from LLL USA —
January 24, 2017
Attention USA Leaders,
Please be aware, there continues to be a man placing harassing calls to Leaders across the country. It appears that he has changed his telephone number and is now using the following number: 412-501-7037.
In the past he has used text messages similar to the following text message:
“hey there is this Tina from llli and if so can I text you about some breastfeeding questions I am new to the area.” If he does not get an immediate response he often texts, “Ya there?” He also states that his child has the same name as the Leader.
A few Leaders have actually spoken to him on the phone. If you receive a harassing call, please do not engage in conversation; please use your instincts and hang up as soon as you feel the call is of an inappropriate nature. If you receive a text message from him, please let him know that you have contacted the authorities. He seems to stop texting once he knows you are on to him.
If you receive a call from the numbers listed above, or harassing calls from any other telephone number or individual, please fill in this form for the LLL USA Council to be able to store all of the information in one place. Our hope is that we will have an accurate account of the amount and types of harassing calls/text to hand over to the authorities, as needed. Law enforcement considers the vast majority of crank calls to be harmless. Nevertheless, it can be upsetting to receive an obscene call, and receiving the support of fellow Leaders is helpful. See these wise and relevant words about handling harassing calls from the late Leader and attorney Elizabeth Baldwin:
http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvaugsep97p95.html.
We want you as Leaders to feel safe always in the work that you do. Although our phone numbers are often out for public use that does not mean that we are required to reply to text messages from phone numbers that are not familiar to us. Decide what your personal limits are for answering phone calls or text messages and talk to your co-Leaders about any local parameters for contact that you want to set.
Please share this message widely through your regular communication channels.
Sincerely,
The LLL USA Council
Kathleen Anderson, Tina Castellanos, Michelle Devlin, Debbi Heffern, Colleen Marubayashi, CarolAnn Napoleon, Hannah Poole, and Colleen White