Posted Monday, December 5, 2011 --- 4:35 p.m.

Press Release from the Sun Prairie Police Department:

On Monday, December 5, 2011, the Sun Prairie Police Department was notified by a Sun Prairie resident that on Sunday, December 4, 2011, they received a phone call from a male who identified himself as “Bill”, calling from the City of Sun Prairie.

The citizen further reported that this individual told them he was collecting unpaid parking fines over the phone, and that the citizen could pay using a credit card. Ultimately, the citizen hung up on the caller without giving him any personal information or a credit card number.

The citizen also reported that the caller ID for “Bill” was 837-2511, which is the Sun Prairie Clerk's Office number. The Clerk's lines were checked and there were no out-going calls on Sunday, December 4th, for any of the lines assigned to the Clerk's office. For this reason, we believe the line “Bill” called from was masked with the Clerk's number.

The Clerk's Office does not take payment for unpaid citations, the Police Department does. The Police Department does not, and has never, used phone calls as a way of collecting unpaid monies.

Please report any incident similar this to the Sun Prairie Police Department at 608-837-7336.