Girl Arrested For Telling People They Have Hiv

The 13-year-old daughter of a hospital clerk was arrested for allegedly calling former emergency room patients and telling them they had tested positive for the AIDS virus as a prank.

A teenager tried to get her father’s gun and kill herself after receiving one of the calls, a newspaper reported.

Tammy Lynn Esckilsen was arrested Monday after police tracked her down with phone numbers captured on a victim’s Caller ID, said Sgt. Malcolm Adams, a police spokesman.

She was accused of calling seven patients who were treated at University Medical Center over the weekend and telling them they were infected with HIV.

Adams said the girl had visited her mother at work over the weekend and used a computer to print out a two-page list of patients and phone numbers.