A Cabool man faces a felony charge of making a terroristic threat following a Nov. 3 bomb threat at the Texas County Justice Center.
Sheriff James Sigman said Cabool police on Thursday night located and arrested Roger L. Wake, 31, of 330 Maple St. in Cabool. A warrant for Wake’s arrest was issued Dec. 21 after the case was presented to a grand jury.
The case began when Wake and his son were in courtroom B at the justice center for court proceedings, and left to go to the restroom. He allegedly returned to the courtroom and told a court deputy at about 9:30 a.m. that another man had approached him in the restroom and said there was a bomb in the building and Wake and his son should leave.
After extensive review of security video, authorities determined there was no other man.
“He pretty much made the story up,” Sigman said, “with no real explanation as to why. But there was nobody else involved, and no one else in the bathroom.”
The bailiff who Wake told his story to notified a judge, and Sigman was then advised of the situation.
Courtroom A was also in full session that day, as about 100 people were scheduled to appear in front of a judge. Both courtrooms and all county offices in the building were subsequently evacuated.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol bomb squad was summoned and arrived shortly after noon. Sigman and other law enforcement personnel made a thorough sweep of the building even before the bomb squad’s arrival.
“When we made a sweep of the building, there was nothing obvious, but we left the building evacuated,” he said. “When the bomb squad arrived, we checked everything again and didn’t find anything, and we were certain everything was good.”
Sigman said security video left no doubt Wake acted on his own.
“This video security system in this building is pretty amazing,” he said. “There are cameras all over the place inside and outside – you can’t get away from them. We had to examine a lot of video, but it was time well spent. We have a good case.”
Wake is held in the Texas County Jail on $250,000 bond.
“It was a strange event, and you might think there would have been more flare to the end of this case,” Sigman said. “But there wasn’t; there was no other guy.”