Oh, it was embarrassing.  Standing at the third floor of a typical suburban apartment complex, I phoned the Eden Prairie Police Department’s non-emergency dispatch line.  I called to see if I had recourse over a pretty crappy situation.  It was just after 8 p.m. and I’d managed to sweet talk an old lady into letting me past the apartment lobby.  I had to get to the third floor to see why the people who ordered $110 in party platters were not answering their phones or coming to pick up their food downstairs.

They weren’t responding because they did not order the food — allegedly.

At some point between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday, a teenager called Red Moon for a large delivery order.  I told him we did not deliver, but said we could tonight, especially since it was a larger order.  He sounded a bit frenetic but had his story together.  He needed food for about 13-15 people for a surprise party.  He gave me a name, phone number, address, apartment number.  But somehow I felt funny about it.  So being the reporter that I still like to think I am — I pressed him with all kinds of questions to see if I could poke holes in the story.  I asked for a credit card but he said he only had cash.  In the end of the phone conversation, I still felt uneasy but concluded that the kid was just getting stereotyped by me as some fool up to no good.  I was determined to believe there really was a party going on and they needed our food.

Red Moon's Holiday Feast -- this is the amount of food that went uneaten because I fell for a prank caller.

We went ahead with the order: A pan of General Tso’s Chicken, a pan of Beef and Broccoli, fried rice, white rice, egg rolls and cream cheese wontons.  It was a heck of a lot of food.

Fool me once… how does the saying go?

I’m very familiar with working with police so it was actually kind of interesting to see what the dispatched officer was going to do when he arrived.  We went upstairs — where earlier I’d pounded on the apartment door to no answer (a TV blaring Slavic chatter was all I heard) — and the mother of the teen who allegedly ordered the food was standing in the hallway this time.  She asked if I’d been the one banging on her door.  Yes, that was me.  No, she did not order $110 in food!

It’s peculiar.  This mysterious prank caller had this woman’s son’s information down pat: address, first and last name, apartment number, directions to his home.  And I’ll go out on a limb and say this: his voice and speaking style sounded pretty damn close to what I recalled from the phone.  But a lot of awkward teens sound that way  But he denied ordering the food and was clueless as to who may have been f*****g with him.  He showed us his cell phone log on his BlackBerry.  No outgoing calls to Red Moon (can’t they be deleted??) and only three calls throughout the night from me that went unanswered.  (I felt funny enough about the situation to try calling to see if they needed plates and forks at about 7:30 p.m.)

I don’t know what to say.  The reporter in me wants to pass on passing judgment on the record here.  The reporter in me has something else to say off the record.

A police report will be filed.  I hope to buy badge number 106 dinner for his time and patience.  And whoever did this — you are an asshole.  And I hope you get help.  Serious help.

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