On August 15, 2025, at approximately 7:12 P.M., Wright County Dispatch received a 911 call from a party reporting a deceased male near the urinal in a nearby rest area. Numerous law enforcement agencies had been dealing with fictitious emergency calls from the same number over the course of several days, which was a “911-only” phone, and the calls were deemed to be swatting calls. Swatting is the act of making a false or prank call to emergency services to provoke a response of a large number of armed law enforcement officers to a specific location.
The owner of the phone could not be determined, but the longitude and latitude of the caller, at the time they made the call in question, was able to be established by cell tower data. At the time this call was made, the caller was west of Clearwater, on ISTH 94, near the Wright County-Stearns County line. When officers investigated, they found no evidence of a deceased person. On 8/20/25, at approximately 11:55 A.M., Wright County Dispatch received a 911 call from the same phone number, with the party reporting that there was a deceased male on the floor and another male standing nearby with a gun at the Enfield Rest Area.
At the time this call was made, the caller was near ISTH 94, EB MP #187 in Silver Creek Twp, Wright County. This report was also determined to be unfounded. Meanwhile, Sergeant Anderson of the Minnesota State Patrol was investigating multiple (approximately 18) swatting calls that occurred throughout the State of Minnesota on or near Interstate 94 between July 29, 2025, and August 20, 2025. Because the caller was calling from a 911-only cellular device, the dispatch centers were unable to actively locate, call back, or track the device.
However, Sgt. Anderson was able to locate the locations where the calls were made from. Based on this information, law enforcement was able to determine the caller’s direction of travel on I-94 when the calls were made. Using the known directions of travel and times and dates of the calls made, Sgt. Anderson was able to identify a blue Ford Focus displaying ND/717-ELW as the suspect vehicle where the calls were being made from. Sgt. Anderson learned the suspect vehicle is registered to Joseph Clark, [DOB REDACTED], which is an alias of LONNY LEE BRISTOW, [DOB REDACTED], hereinafter the defendant.
The Defendant’s criminal history includes numerous charges and convictions, including "threatening or harassing phone calls", "telecommunications harassment", "harassing communication -phone calls", "threat to bomb" and other charges across Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin. The Defendant had a valid Ohio driver's license, and Sgt. Anderson viewed the Ohio license photograph and confirmed Lonny Bristow was the same person as North Dakota's photograph of Joseph Clark. The Supreme Court of Ohio also has documentation identifying Lonny Bristow and Joseph Clark as the same person.
