Reports of clown sightings started in August in South Carolina, then reports of these creepy culprits started popping up nationwide.
People in neighboring states started alerting their local police stations of clowns hanging around and now people are reporting them in Ohio and locally.
Today, Franklin police were called to an apartment complex where a woman reported being chased by someone wearing a plastic clown mask.
Franklin police were unable to locate the clown.
One man in Greenville recently reported being attacked by two clowns.
A group of children in Brookville called the police because of a clown running around in the local woods near where they lived.
The Brookville Police checked the woods and only found Halloween masks.
A third clown sighting has been reported in the Dayton area.
Post and pictures of these circus act look alikes have been flooding social media.
Whether these sightings are harmless pranks or actual crimes, police departments in the Dayton region are starting to respond.
The Marion Police Department, which is over 90 miles northeast of Dayton, has received enough messages about these clowns that they wrote a Face Book post regarding the incidents.
“To be clear to the public, a person riding down the street or walking down the street in a clown costume is not in and of itself illegal. However, given the panic created to this point (warranted or not) it would not be a good idea to participate in this type of activity. Anyone dressed as a clown and trespassing on another's property or attempting to scare people or generate fear can and will be charged with Criminal Trespass and/or Inducing Panic while also raising the probability of being harmed by a fearful homeowner,” the police department said in a prepared state on its Face Book page.
Marion Police ended their Facebook post with a piece of advice:
“MPD has officers working in unmarked vehicles who will attempt to locate these individuals and when located, they will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law. For the remainder of the community...please do us a favor and do not share these posts from fear mongering social media pages. It only generates more fear and attention, which is exactly what they are seeking. Any info you could provide to help bring this to a finale would be greatly appreciated.”
Meanwhile, the police department in Fort Oglethorpe. Ga., posted on their Facebook page that it is illegal in Georgia for someone to wear a mask to scare people when it is not a holiday like Halloween, according to Georgia law.
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