Green Bay man sentenced for making threatening, obscene phone calls to daycare centers

GREEN BAY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A  Green Bay man will spend seven years in prison after he was convicted of making harassing phone calls to daycare facilities in Indiana.

Prosecutors say 46-year-old Michael Propst called the daycares, claiming he had one of the kids they were looking after and was raping the child. The panicked workers then performed a head-count of the children while they contacted authorities. 

When the FBI office in Green Bay became involved, they learned there was already an investigation into Propst's actions in Delaware. The investigation revealed that Propst was linked to similar obscene and threatening phone calls in 15 states from Maine to California. According to the Department of Justice, Propst's job as a long-haul trucker made it practically impossible for local authorities to investigate as he and his phone were constantly moving through different legal jurisdictions. 

At the sentencing hearing, government prosecutors were able to show a nearly 20-year pattern of Propst calling daycare centers, schools, and businesses depicting the violent rape of young kids. 

Records show that Propst was convicted in Florida in 1999 and 2002 for virtually the same crime, and was sentenced to almost three and a half years in prison. Prosecutors said evidence showed and Propst admitted the calls were made for the purpose of his own sexual gratification. 

When the judge handed down the sentence, he noted Propst's pattern of behavior was very serious and characterized the calls as akin to "terrorism" because the calls were intended to cause terror in the victims answering his calls. 

Following his time in prison, Propst will spend three years on federal supervised release.