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Toddler dials 911 multiple times, mom fined

Posted at 6:04 AM, Feb 20, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-20 08:04:44-05

(CNN)–A mother in Oregon faces a big fine and possible jail time because her toddler accidentally dialed 911 too many times.

Police said if this had been a one-time mistake, they would not have cited Jessica May.

But dispatchers said they got seven calls from her phone on Thursday and nine others before that, dating back to January.

May says she was in the bathroom on Thursday when her one-year-old daughter, Ayla, found her phone and started playing with it. She said her phone was in the “locked” mode at the time, but it’s still possible to dial emergency numbers without unlocking it.

“When I come back and my daughter had 911 on the phone and they’re like what’s your emergency and I explained to them that she accidentally called,” May said. “And said that they’re going to start fining people who abuse 911.”

When it happened again after the warning, May was cited for abusing 911. If convicted, she could up to a year in prison and up to a six-thousand-dollar fine.