Crime & Safety

Bomb Threat Evacuates Cobb Courthouse

The owner of the Starlight Cafe, across the street from the Cobb Courthouse, has been taken into custody, according to the MDJ.

The home of the Woodstock man in custody in connection with a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of courthouses in Cobb and Cherokee counties was in foreclosure, the spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said late this afternoon.

Moments after Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren and Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn announced charges against 45-year-old Jody John Wilson during an afternoon press conference, Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Lt. Jay Baker issued a press release indicating that Wilson's home in the 7000 block of Surrey Drive "was scheduled to be sold on the courthouse steps."

Detectives, he said, "believe that was the motive of the bomb threats."

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About 10:55 a.m. today, investigators with the Cobb County Sheriff's Office said a call from a pay phone at the Citgo gas station on Fairgound and Roswell streets came in at Cobb County 911.

The caller stated "there was a bomb placed outside the Cherokee and the Cobb County courthouses," Warren said. 

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No devices were found during a search of the area surrounding the Cobb courthouse complex, but "Cobb County Sheriff's Office investigators were able to determine the phone call was made form a pay phone by Jody John Wilson," Warren said.

Marietta police located Wilson at The Starlight Café in Marietta. Wilson is the owner, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.

"After meeting with the Marietta police, sheriff's investigators were able to confirm Wilson as the suspect," Warren said.

In Cobb, Wilson is charged with intimidation or injury of grand or petit or court officers; preventing or disrupting lawful meetings, gatherings or processions; transmitting a false public alarm; false statements in writing; and terroristic threats and acts.

"We will not tolerate individuals trying to intimidate officials, judges, prosecutors, jurors, or other persons conducting business within the courthouse," Warren said.

Cherokee investigators have secured arrest warrants for Wilson for today’s bomb threat and another one in January. Cobb authorities have not charged Wilson in connection with the January threat.

As was the case in January, today was the day that foreclosed properties went up for auction on the courthouse steps.

In Cherokee, Wilson faces charges that include two counts of transmitting a false public alarm; two counts of preventing or disrupting lawful meetings, gatherings or processions; two counts of intimidation or injury of grand or petit or court officers; and two counts of terroristic threats or acts.

"When Wilson is released from the Cobb County Jail he will be transported to the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center," Baker said in a news release.


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