(Breaking news) Walmart employee charged in bomb threats

Monday, Feb. 23, 2009

A Calvert County woman identified by investigators as an employee of the Walmart store in California has been charged with making bomb threats against the business eight times this month.

St. Mary's detectives report that they were working overnight into Saturday morning to plan a raid at Chantel Denise Cook's home, when the eighth bomb threat in 12 days was phoned into the business that morning. The detectives teamed up with a state police helicopter crew and tactical squads to arrest the 32-year-old woman a short time later at her Lusby residence.

A St. Mary's court commissioner ordered that Cook be held in jail in lieu of $80,000 bond on the eight charges of making a false statement of a destructive device. A conviction for the felony offense carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, plus a $10,000 fine and restitution for the costs incurred by the business and the state and county governments.

The calls to the business beginning Feb. 10 and continuing into Saturday led each time to evacuations of its staff and customers, until law officers and bomb-detection police dogs could ensure that no explosive devices were there.

jwharton@somdnews.com