There's an alarming message traveling around the QCA.
You get a phone call that says you missed jury duty.
And now you have to pay a fine, or go to prison.
But it's a prank.
About one third of jurors called up in Scott County are actually showing up for their jury summons.
So when this phone call started making the rounds, it made some people very nervous, very quickly.
And the court clerk says that just makes her job harder.
"If you are hearing this recording, it means that our records indicate you failed to appear for jury duty last Monday at 9 am."
That's how the phone call starts. And to a person being pranked, it's no laughing manner.
"Ignoring these notifications and failing to report to jury duty is a class 3 misdemeanor."
Scott and Cedar County Court Clerk Julie Carlin says, "I don't know if it's friends calling other friends, but they say that you didn't show up to jury duty and so there's a warrant out for your arrest."
She says her office has been fielding lots of phone calls from worried residents. Thinking punishment is on the way.
"To make arrangements to pay the 500 dollar fine for failure to appear to jury duty, press 2, to make arrangements to begin serving a 30 day prison sentence for failure to appear to jury duty, press 3."
There are penalties for not showing up to your court date as a juror. But the court will never call you and tell you that. They'll send you a letter, and that's compounding another issue, not enough jurors are actually showing up."
"We're getting about one third of the jurors in that we call," says Scott County Jury Manager Holly Swafford.
She says not getting enough people in those seats can cause major problems for the court.
"We would like to get all of them because if we don't have enough the case could be dismissed."
And jokes like these.
"Pass this phone number, to your top ten most gullible friends and attempt to trick them into thinking this is actually a real failure to appear for jury notification."
Belong to a court jester, not a court system.
"People already when they get a jury summons are turned off and they don't want to serve, and then when something like this happens it just makes it worse," says Swafford.
If you get one of these phone calls, ignore it.
It's actually coming from a web site that creates prank calls.
The Scott County Attorney as well as the Iowa Attorney General's office are following up on it to see if any legal action is warranted.
And if you're unsure about your jury status, call your county courthouse.
They'll let you know if you're in trouble or not.
