VALDOSTA — A man was arrested Sunday for tying up Lowndes County’s E911 service with dozens of bogus phone calls.

Around 7:45 p.m. Saturday, E911 started receiving phone calls from someone who would make comments to dispatchers before hanging up, a Valdosta Police Department statement said. The same man called E911 more than 70 times; each time, officers from various law enforcement agencies would be tied up looking for him, the statement said.

Around 6 a.m. Sunday, officers headed to the 700 block of South Patterson Street, where they found the suspect sitting beside an ice machine. He denied making the calls, but officers used his phone to call E911, where his phone number matched the one that had been used to continuously call dispatchers, police said.

The suspect — described as a 44-year-old man — was jailed and charged with misdemeanor interfering with 911, the police statement said.

“This was such a waste of our resources, along with our dispatcher’s time. I am proud of the persistence of everyone involved, who were eventually able to track him down and arrest him,” said Police Chief Leslie Manahan

Anyone with information about this case should contact the Valdosta Police Department Bureau of Investigative Services at 229-293-3145, the crime tip line at 229-293-3091, or file a tip online at www.valdostacity.com/police-department.