A new chapter has unfolded in the bizarre exploits of the East Earl Township policeman who was shot with his own gun outside his home last summer.

Officer M. Gregory Yarbrough, 40, of the 1400 block of East Main Street, East Earl, was charged Friday with filing false reports to law enforcement after police say he disguised his voice while making threats to himself and his wife on her cell phone on the morning of March 21.

East Earl Township Police Chief Kevin C. McCarthy said Saturday that Yarbrough asked Officer Daniel Nipper to his home to listen to the message on the afternoon it was received on his wife Christina's cell phone.

According to a police affidavit, the message stated: "Your husband is a dead man and your ass is mine."

Yarbrough said that he had received "hang-up phone calls for three weeks" and that he believed the threat originated from a friend of his wife's brother, who was arrested last month by East Earl Police, Nipper reported.

Though Yarbrough never filed an official criminal complaint, McCarthy said his decision to play the recording to Officer Nipper made it official. Nipper filed a criminal report listing Mrs. Yarbrough as a victim of harassment by communications and terroristic threats.

Nipper received permission from Mrs. Yarbrough March 26 to make a digital copy of the cell phone threat. Police learned the call originated from a pay phone outside the Wal-Mart store on Route 322 in Ephrata.

After receiving a search warrant April 4 from D&E Communications, police found the record of the call to Mrs. Yarbrough's cell phone. Police then obtained a DVD that Wal-Mart's security cameras recorded at the time the call was made.

Nipper said he recognized Officer Yarbrough and his black Chevrolet pickup at the pay phone, according to the affidavit.

Yarbrough, who joined East Earl Police in June 2002, was arraigned before District Judge Rodney Hartman and released Friday on $7,500 unsecured bail.

McCarthy said he has no idea why Yarbrough would attempt to falsely implicate his brother-in-law.

"He alleges that associates of his brother-in-law probably made the call, knowing that he made the call," McCarthy said.

March 4, East Earl police charged Yarbrough's brother-in-law, Kevin Allen Gray, on three counts of burglary, fleeing from police and driving under the influence. Gray, 20, of Christiana, has an extensive criminal record including forgery charges in New Holland last year when he deposited a stolen check made out for $1,200. He is in Lancaster County Prison.

Yarbrough was charged under section 4906 of the Pennsylvania Criminal Code, which relates those who "pretend to furnish such authorities with information relating to an offense or incident when he knows he has no information relating to such offense or incident."

The maximum punishment for the charge is two years in jail and a fine of $5,000. Yarbrough has a preliminary hearing scheduled April 21 before Judge Hartman.

McCarthy said he suspended Yarbrough without pay, pending action by East Earl Township supervisors who will decide whether to dismiss him "in the very near future."

McCarthy said Yarbrough has been receiving workers' compensation since June 7 when he was airlifted to Lancaster General Hospital after being shot with his own handgun. Yarbrough filed another compensation claim Dec. 17 when he slipped in snow and injured his thumb at a courthouse in Allentown while attending a civil hearing against East Earl Township, McCarthy said.

"It's not known at this time how (the charges against him) affect that claim," McCarthy said.

McCarthy said the alleged bogus threat by Yarbrough last month is not linked to the shooting last summer, where he suffered a leg wound.

"This case is in no way connected with the shooting that Mr. Yarbrough was involved in last summer,' McCarthy said. "We are not the investigating agency in that case … that incident is being investigated by the State Police in Ephrata."

State Police did not return phone calls Friday and Saturday about its investigation into the June 7 shooting.

The shooting has led to much public speculation after State Police, the day after the shooting, searched Yarbrough's home. According to the search warrant, Yarbrough's wife contacted him the night of the shooting stating that "somebody might be outside of the residence.

Yarbrough arrived home at about 12:40 a.m. June 7 when he said he saw a dark figure moving. As he approached he was tackled. A struggle ensued and Yarbrough's pistol was discharged, striking him in the right leg, according to police reports.

Police from a dozen different departments in Lancaster and Chester counties searched for the man with helicopters and dogs.

The incident attracted media from as far away as Philadelphia which brought about 10 news vans and TV news helicopters outside Yarbrough's home. The shooting happened just two days after police were called to investigate an earlier possible prowler at Yarbrough's home, neighbors said.

Yarbrough's neighbors voiced concerns Saturday about both incidents.

"It is very disturbing," said Evelyn Messner. "He appears to be a very troubled person."

East Earl resident George Burkholder added: "I'm still not happy that taxpayers have been paying this guy for a year for doing nothing."