Judge: Man ate up time, resources

LYNN – A judge ordered a mental-health evaluation and a $1,500 personal surety bond for a Woburn man who allegedly called 911 saying he was freezing to death near Route 1 and watched from a hotel room as officials searched for him in the woods.”Sgt. (Kevin) Cabral and the entire shift (three additional officers) began a search into the frigid wooded area ? Saugus Fire sent out Ladder 1 with thermal imaging to search,” Saugus Police Officer Daniel Wing wrote in a report. “I immediately observed the view from his window. (The defendant) had a front-row seat of all the emergency activity that was happening.”Stephen M. Cornwall, 59, of 171 Old Cambridge Road, Woburn, was arrested and charged with making a false 911 report; and a warrant; at 7:57 a.m. Wednesday.He was arraigned on the new charge in Lynn District Court Wednesday where a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.A Danvers Police dispatcher reported receiving an emergency call at approximately 5:15 a.m. Wednesday from Cornwall. Over the course of three calls between the dispatcher and Cornwall, the latter said he was near Route 1 near Peabody, was “freezing to death,” and threatened to walk out into Route 1 traffic, according to police. But police said Cornwall was resistant and uncooperative on the phone, refusing to point out nearby landmarks to help police determine his location.The dispatcher traced the call to woods within Saugus and notified Saugus Police. Police reported the current temperature was approximately 7 degrees Fahrenheit, without wind chill, and there was intermittent snow from a winter storm that was ending.Saugus Police said four officers and three firefighters then searched the woods for several hours but did not find Cornwall.Police then contacted Metro PCS, which was able to pinpoint the calls to the Holiday Inn on Route 1, according to reports. Police found Cornwall in room 242 of the hotel, where he initially denied making any phone calls.”When asked to look at his phone, Mr. Cornwall replied, ?it was a matter of time before you caught up with me,'” Wing reported.Essex Assistant District Attorney Maria Markos requested $1,500 cash bail, saying that Cornwall had been charged with a similar incident in 2010 out of Dedham that was continued without a finding. She also noted the Wednesday incident had required Saugus Police and Fire devote substantial resources to a fruitless search.Court-appointed defense attorney Stephen O’Malley said Cornwall could not make bail, however.”I ask you not to detain him, he does not belong in Middleton,” O’Malley said.He asked that Cornwall be sent for a mental-health evaluation as he was grieving his wife, who had died in December.A court psychologist told the judge Cornwall had reported a history of mental illness, but he appeared fine Wednesday.Lynn District Court Judge Joseph Jennings said he had rarely come across similar cases in more than a decade on the bench and had to consider the other people affected by the alleged incident.While police and firefighters were looking for Cornwall, “other people with serious injuries may have needed help,” Jennings noted. “And (firefighters and police officers) put themselves in jeopardy by looking for him.”Jennings accepted O’Malley’s request that Cornwall be sent for a mental-health evaluation and be released on a $1,500 personal surety bond. Jennings also set conditions of release including that Cornwall take all prescribed medications and be subject to random screening for alcohol and drugs.Cornwall is scheduled to return to court March 28.