Arrest made in courthouse bomb threats

A Woodstock man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly making bomb threats against two courthouses, authorities said.

Jody John Wilson, 45, was arrested without incident inside the Marietta Square restaurant the Starlight Cafe, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren said.

“We will not tolerate anyone trying to intimidate our court officials, prosecutors or the people coming into the courthouses,” Warren said.

No explosive devices were found at either the Cherokee County Courthouse or the Cobb County Courthouse after both facilities were evacuated and bomb-sniffing dogs aided with extensive searches, police said.

Wilson has been charged with terroristic threats and acts, intimidation or injury of grand or petit jurors or court officers, transmitting a false public alarm and false statements in writing – all felonies – and preventing or disrupting lawful meetings, gatherings or processions, a misdemeanor.

He is being held at the Cobb County Jail without bail.

Channel 2 Action News is reporting that Wilson owns the Starlight Cafe.

The investigation of the threat began as soon as it was made late Tuesday morning and continues, police said.

Authorities have not determined a motive, but they said Wilson was identified as a suspect within hours of the threat being made.

“Within two hours an individual was identified, arrested and the courthouse was safe,” Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn said.

The call announcing the threat was made to 9-1-1 at 10:55 a.m., authorities said. The new superior court building, the old district attorney’s offices and the state court were evacuated for about 45 minutes, authorities said.

The Cherokee County Justice Center and the Historic Courthouse were evacuated after receiving a bomb threat around 11:20 a.m., sheriff’s office spokesman Jay Baker said.

Canton police said that the courthouse was evacuated, and North and West Main streets were temporarily closed downtown.

Investigators determined that the call came from a payphone in Marietta, and tracked the call to a Citgo gas station on the corner of Roswell and Fairground streets, just east of the Square, authorities said.

Warren said witnesses described a truck seen at the time of the call at the gas station, and an all-points bulletin was put out on the vehicle.

The truck was found parked about a mile west of the Citgo, in front of the Starlight Café in the 100 block of Roswell Street, directly across from the old Cobb County courthouse, he said.

Investigators questioned Wilson, then took him into custody, police said.

People who frequent Marietta Square and know Wilson were shocked to hear he was allegedly linked to the threatening calls.

“I find it hard to believe,” said Ulysses Trujillo, who works at another Roswell Street eatery.

Tim Allen owns a barber shop at the corner of Cherokee and Roswell streets on the Square, across from Glover Park and two doors up from the Starlight Café.

Allen said Wilson’s jovial personality didn’t fit the accusations.

“I’d heard they had somebody in custody,” he said. “It surprises me that it’s Jody. Maybe they should keep investigating.”