(a) No person shall do any of the following:
(1) Initiate or circulate a report or warning of an alleged or impending fire, explosion, crime or other catastrophe, knowing that the report or warning is false and likely to cause public inconvenience or alarm;
(2) Knowingly cause a false alarm of fire or other emergency to be transmitted to or within any organization, public or private, for dealing with emergencies involving a risk of physical harm to persons or property;
(3) Report to any law enforcement agency an alleged offense or other incident within its concern, knowing that such offense did not occur.
(b) This section does not apply to any person conducting an authorized fire or emergency drill.
(c) As used in subsection (d) hereof, “economic harm” means all direct, incidental and consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim as a result of criminal conduct. “Economic harm” includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(1) All wages, salaries or other compensation lost as a result of the criminal conduct;
(2) The cost of all wages, salaries or other compensation paid to employees for time those employees are prevented from working as a result of the criminal conduct;
(3) The overhead costs incurred for the time that a business is shut down as a result of the criminal conduct; and
(4) The loss of value to tangible or intangible property that was damaged as a result of the criminal conduct.
(d) Whoever violates this section is guilty of making false alarms, a misdemeanor of the first degree, and shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 698.02, provided violation of this section does not result in economic harm of five hundred dollars ($500.00) or more. (ORC 2917.32)