NC man called in fake bomb threat to avoid court date, gets arrested 5 hours later
A 31-year-old man from Caldwell County was arrested for calling in a false bomb threat to the courthouse he was due to appear in and now he’s in jail, authorities say.
On Tuesday, just as court offices were opening for the day, the Caldwell County Clerk of Courts Office received a call from an unknown person who said a bomb was on courthouse property. The courthouse was then searched by the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, Lenoir Police Department and an explosives detection dog, according to a news statement from the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office.
No bomb was found, officials said.
About five hours later, Raymond Allen Mathis was arrested when deputies pulled his car over, according to Tuesday’s news statement from police. Deputies say they discovered Mathis had been scheduled to appear in court prior to the bomb threat.
Mathis was charged with making a false bomb report to a public building, deputies said. During his arrest, deputies also found “checks belonging to other individuals” and a small bag of methamphetamine behind the cover of Mathis’ phone, according to the statement.
Investigators allege the phone they found with Mathis was the phone he used to call in the fake bomb report.
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
