SKOWHEGAN — A 14-year-old Augusta teenager will be charged with making two telephoned bomb threats in less than a week to the Skowhegan Walmart, according to Skowhegan police.

Police Chief Ted Blais said Thursday that the teenager “was very tech savvy and had attempted to mask his cellphone by the use of an online service,” though he did not specify what service was used.

Additional Photos

Skowhegan police and Maine State Police respond to the Walmart store in Skowhegan for a bomb threat report on Feb. 3. It was the second threat in less than a week at the company. Customers and employees were evacuated from building as police with dogs searched inside. David Leaming/Morning Sentinel

Shoppers in vehicles are blocked by police cruisers from entering the Walmart parking lot in Skowhegan as police search the building after a reported bomb threat on Jan. 28. David Leaming/Morning Sentinel

A Maine state trooper and dog enter the front of the Walmart store in Skowhegan on Feb. 3, after a bomb threat was reported less than a week after a Jan. 28 threat was made. Employees and customers were not allowed in the store as police searched the building. David Leaming/Morning Sentinel

He said police got the phone number used after the second threat. They issued subpoenas to the network provider to track the number.

Blais said the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office will review the case, which could lead to a felony charge of terrorizing or a lesser charge of causing a false public alarm. The boy’s name has not been released because of his age, Blais said.

District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said she will examine the police report; look at the boy’s criminal record, if he has one; and confer with juvenile corrections officials before she decides whether to charge him with a felony. Either way, she said, the boy will not face charges in adult court.

While police didn’t specify what the teenager used to mask his number, cellphone apps that hide numbers are increasingly available.

Both bomb threats to Walmart were called in at the same time of day – 2:05 p.m. – to the store at Fairgrounds Market Place on Jan. 28 and Feb. 3. Both times the caller said there was a bomb in one of the men’s rooms at the store. Police said the caller sounded like a young man.

The store was evacuated both times and parking lot entrances were cordoned off with police cruisers, a firetruck and an ambulance. A Maine State Police trooper arrived each time with a bomb-sniffing dog and searched the outside and the inside of the building, but no bomb was found. 

Doug Harlow can be contacted at 612-2367 or at:

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Doug_Harlow

Related Stories