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'Prankster' Claiming To Own Pittsburgh Ice Cream Shop 'Spewing Hate,' Making Threats

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A popular Pittsburgh ice cream shop is dealing with a "prankster" who they say is pretending to own the business and making threatening phone calls.

Millie's Homemade Ice Cream said on their social media accounts Thursday that for more than three years, they have been the target of a "very nasty" prank caller.

They say the caller cloned their phone numbers and makes phone calls pretending to be the owner of Millie's. This person allegedly calls local businesses and Millie's employees to "spew hate" and make threats.

"They're calling the business with recorded voices, claiming that they're me, yelling at employees, claiming that they're Pittsburgh Police," owner Chad Townsend said.

millie's homemade ice cream shadyside
(Photo Credit: KDKA)

After "a recent hiatus," the prank caller is apparently back, the shop says.

"Pittsburgh Police Zone 4 has been here 50 times," Townsend said. "It's very malicious. It's, you know, impersonation of police officers, it's an attempt to intimidate my staff, me, other businesses as me."

One prank call ended with SWAT being sent out.

"They called Zone 2 and told Zone 2 that I had a gun down there, so the SWAT team had to show up," Townsend said.

The ice cream shop is working with local and federal agencies to try to track down the prank caller and put a stop to it.

"We think that a lot of the calls are getting made via Skype, so it's hard for them to trace it with the kind of phone department," Townsend said.

Townsend says customers have shown an outpouring of support.

Anyone who receives a phone call from the prank caller is asked to contact the ice cream shop to let them know.

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