Two separate bomb threats just minutes apart Sunday evening were settled with the arrest of one woman and pending charges against another. Police say both made false reports.
The first occurred at 6:20 p.m. after a female resident of Pinewood Drive in the Green Springs Trailer Park called a relative to report a male at the residence had a bomb and bomb-making materials inside, police said. The James City County Police Department’s SWAT team, the fire department, JCC fire marshals, the Newport News Fire Department Bomb Squad and the FBI responded and evacuated nearby residences while a police negotiator made contact with the resident.
Police said four people inside the trailer were detained while the residence was searched. Neither a bomb nor bomb-making materials was found, police said.
The male suspect, 46-year-old John Francis Burns, was arrested on two outstanding warrants for probation violation. The 56-year-old woman who reported what police believe to be false information was taken to Williamsburg Sentara Regional Hospital for medical evaluation and charges are pending against her, police said.
In the second incident, reported at 7:04 p.m., James City police and fire marshals responded to the Hardee’s restaurant on Richmond Road in Lightfoot. A woman had walked into the restaurant yelling there was a bomb next door at the Super 8 Motel, police said.
Staff from the motel told police that the woman, identified as 55-year-old Althea Patricia Willett of Williamsburg, was having trouble with her room key and dissatisfied with the help the front desk provided.
According to police, Willett was trying to use her key card on the wrong room. Police and fire officials searched her room and did not find a bomb. Willet was taken into custody and charged with making a bomb threat.
No rooms or guests were evacuated during the investigation.
