EVANSVILLE — An Evansville man who police say shattered a bank door and falsely claimed to have a bomb was arrested Monday after telling investigators he had been trying to reach federal government officials he believed were somewhere inside the building.
City police took 36-year-old Trenton Brice Wethington into custody just before 5 p.m. Monday outside the Old National Bank branch at 961 Washington Ave. after he allegedly hurled a pair of vise grips through the front entrance and then told responding officers an explosive device was concealed in a nearby backpack. There was no bomb, police said.
Wethington faces preliminary charges of intimidation with a deadly weapon and false reporting of a bomb threat, both Level 6 felonies, as well as criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor. As of Tuesday morning, the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office had yet to file formal charges.
According to Wethington’s arrest affidavit, an officer was stationed in his marked patrol unit in the bank’s south parking lot Monday afternoon when he heard the sound of glass shattering. The officer, Marty Harrington, rushed to the bank’s front entrance where he saw a man, later identified as Trenton Wethington, standing near a damaged glass door. A pair of locking vice grips could be seen on the ground between the front entrance’s two sets of doors, according to Officer Zachary Baehl, who authored the affidavit.
Baehl, who had arrived on scene to assist Harrington, wrote that Wethington told him, “There’s a bomb in that bag,” as he pointed to a yellow-and-black backpack lying on the pavement in a nearby parking space.
“I asked Wethington what kind of bomb, and he stated, ‘One that’ll go off, I’m sure,'” Baehl wrote. “I asked Wethington why it would go off if I touched it, and he stated, ‘If I were you, I would be getting the bomb squad up here.'”
Baehl told Wethington that making a bomb threat was a felony. After a fellow officer read Wethington his Miranda warning, Wethington declined to answer further questions — though he is alleged to have continued to make incriminating statements.
As officers moved away from the backpack to establish a perimeter and begin evacuating the bank, Wethington told Baehl to “believe that I have something in my hands that will set it off,” the affidavit states. Baehl checked Wethington’s hands and found nothing. “Waste of time,” Wethington said in response, according to Baehl.
Hazardous Devices Unit Detective Michael Ward soon responded and identified himself to Wethington as a bomb technician. According to Ward’s written statement, Wethington initially did not deny that a bomb was in the bag. But when pressed, Wethington admitted to fabricating the threat, telling Ward he had made up the bomb claim because of his “agitated state.”
Instead of a bomb, the bag held personal hygiene products, Ward said, including facial serums and body wash.
As to his motives, Wethington allegedly told investigators he had been attempting to speak with personnel at what he believed was a federal building and that he thought federal government officials were inside the bank.
The Winfield K. Denton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is located in downtown Evansville less than two miles from the Washington Avenue Old National Bank branch. The affidavit does not state whether Wethington mistook the word “national” in Old National Bank to mean it had a federal connection, or whether he believed the Washington Avenue branch had some other tie to federal authorities.
An Old National Bank spokesperson did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the incident, law enforcement’s response or whether the episode had affected or would affect the branch’s operations. According to court records, branch manager Edward Greenfield told police it would cost an estimated $5,000 to repair the front entrance.
Wethington was transported to the Vanderburgh County jail. A probable cause hearing in the case was scheduled to be held Tuesday afternoon before Vanderburgh Circuit Court Judge Ryan Hatfield.
Houston Harwood may be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville man arrested after bomb threat at Old National Bank
Reporting by Houston Harwood, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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