Iowa State Daily Several ISU students have reported receiving harassing phone calls from a man going by the name of “John,” Department of Public Safety officials said. Aaron DeLashmutt, investigation officer with DPS, said at least 14 women have reported receiving the harassing calls from “John” since Aug. 29. The unknown man has contacted 11 Willow Hall residents, two Elm Hall residents and one Oak Hall resident. “The male caller often asks for Sarah,” DeLashmutt said. “I don’t know why he is using that. He identifies himself as John and describes himself as a junior at ISU.” DeLashmutt said the caller tries to get the woman to engage in sexual conversations. He believes the man is calling from an off-campus phone because there is a “double ring.” “The university phones are set up so it will ring once if it’s a campus call, and it will ring twice if it’s [from] off campus,” he said. “[The caller] could be in the city of Ames or any place. At this point, I don’t know.” Associate Director of Public Safety Jerry Stewart said at least two of the women have reported that the calls are coming from off-campus because of the double ring. Others, he said, are not sure. DeLashmutt said a similar incident occurred last fall when a man from New York was calling women in the residence halls. However, he said that incident was different because the calls were more threatening and the perpetrator called college women all over the country. DeLashmutt said he doesn’t think women need to be afraid of this caller. “He hasn’t threatened anyone that we know of yet,” he said. “If someone has received the harassing phone calls and they haven’t reported it yet, we would like to hear about it.” Director of Public Safety Loras Jaeger said these types of things occur on campus occasionally. “The university as well as the community are not immune from them,” he said. “We have someone who obviously needs some help and we would like to find him. We would like to talk to him.” DPS officials are not sure how the caller is getting the women’s telephone numbers. “The guy from New York was using the online phone book,” DeLashmutt said. “He would type in a series of letters like `Ch’ and then see what that got him. It’s hard to say how they’re getting the numbers. It could be someone who knows someone’s phone number and they are figuring it out from there.” DeLashmutt said he doesn’t think people should be worried about having their number listed online. “Be cautious, as with everything else,” he said. “They do have the option of not having their number on there.” If anyone has any information on “John” or has received a harassing phone call, contact DPS at 294-4428.