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Christopher Hooper

(Livingston County Sheriff)

Police charged a Western New York man for falsely reporting an incident after he posted a warning to parents about clowns in the area on Facebook.

The Democrat & Chronicle reports Christopher Hooper allegedly edited a clown image into a photo of Vitale Park in Lakeville before posting it on his Facebook page. He warned people to keep their children out of the park, which caused "public harm" and adding to the growing clown hysteria, Livingston County Sheriff Thomas J. Dougherty said in a press release. The sheriff added that Hooper told his Facebook friends "the clown had then run away when he snapped the picture."

"The post did cause public alarm with the recent clown issues on social media," the press release read. "The sheriff's office has been investigating the clown concerns since last week with no known credible threat but many residents very concerned."

The post was shared almost 200 times before it was deleted.

Police charged Hooper with third-degree falsely reporting an incident after he admitted making the post, Dougherty said in the release. The charge brings a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Dougherty's Facebook post came on the same day that the "creepy clown" epidemic continued to spread rapidly throughout Upstate New York.

In the Rochester area, a person sent video to a TV station of a clown walking down West Ridge Road in Greece, near Rochester. The person who took the video told the TV station "waving at cars."

On Monday, Shenendehowa Central School District in the Capital Region received a bomb threat on an online forum run by the notorious "creepy clowns." The school district is home to Shenendehowa High School, the largest public high school in Upstate New York. It has an enrollment of more than 3,100 students.

Binghamton Central School District officials notified parents Monday morning of possible "clown activity" around Binghamton High School during lunch.

Sighting of these "creepy clowns" have spread on social media. The epidemic reached Upstate New York last week. The first reported sighting was made by a woman at Fox Run Apartments in Clifton Park. She reported seeing a "creepy clown" lurking outside a laundry room.

Since then, there have been numerous other sightings in Upstate New York, including Auburn, Amsterdam, St. Lawrence County and Western New York. In one particular shocking case, three people wearing clown costumes began approaching a 10-year-old boy in Syracuse as he walked to school.