Man accused of making vulgar calls to women

Man accused of making vulgar calls to women

By Thanh Tan

ESTACADA, Ore. - Clackamas County Sheriff's officials believe they have tracked down a man responsible for making vulgar phone calls to several women at least 31 times since March 10.

Caleb Holzwarth, 22, of Estacada, was arrested Friday on 31 counts of telephone harassment.

Two victims told KATU News they never gave Holzwarth their phone number. One had never seen him before; the other encountered him at her workplace. Yet both say he knew bits of information about them. Now that he is out of jail after just one day, they want to warn others.

"I got the phone call on a Saturday morning at 1:45 a.m.," said Suzanne Bowen, adding that the caller knew her daughter's name. "He told me he raped her and gave a description of it. I knew it wasn't true because she was home the night before, and, of course, if something like that happened she would have told me."

He did not call just once.

"He called me three more times," she said.

He did not call just one woman.

"He would call back and make moaning sounds and sounds that are sexual," said an 18-year-old victim who only wanted KATU to identify her by her first name, Jenna. "I got home and it was probably within five minutes he called. He said he was going to rape me, get me pregnant and have babies. So that's when I started crying because I was freaked out over the whole thing."

The phone company traced two weeks worth of calls like that to 35162 S.E. Coupland Road in Estacada, where Holzwarth lives.

"I was always watching my back. I couldn't sleep at night," Jenna said, describing the torment she felt before deputies arrested Holzwarth.

Sheriff's deputies said they can't keep Holzwarth in jail past Saturday because telephonic harassment is a misdemeanor. Jim Strovink, a sheriff's office spokesman, said Holzwarth does not have a serious criminal history, but Portland police arrested him on March 20 for the same crime.

"I just hope this person is getting the help he needs ..." added Bowen.

She told KATU News she has learned that when people receive crank calls, they should tell that person not to call again, then press * 57 to trace the call.

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