Hoax ‘Death Calls’ Made to US Families

Vermont officials say they'll investigate hoax phone calls to families of Soldiers serving in Afghanistan telling them a son or daughter was killed or injured.

Families of National Guard Soldiers received late-night phone calls from someone expressing regrets and sympathy in what state officials call a ghoulish hoax, ABC News reported Wednesday.

"My first thought was, 'How sick,'" Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell said.

Sorrell said he's been in contact with the U.S. attorney general's office, since making such hoax calls during a time of war is a federal felony.

Military families already suffer enough anxiety about having a Soldier serving overseas, National Guard Lt. Col. Lloyd Goodrow said.

"All our families, it's a roller coaster ride," he said. "Somebody does something like this, it just makes it worse."

Three such calls have been confirmed, Goodrow said, but there may have been as many as nine.

"One time is one time too many and it has to stop," he said.