Apr 17, 2017 2 min read

A Venetia man was arrested Friday by Monongahela police for allegedly calling in a bomb threat at Trax Farms while working at the business Friday morning, prompting the evacuation of about 200 adults and children, many of them there for breakfast or lunch with the Easter bunny.

Christopher Dane Myers, 20, of 881 E. McMurray Road, is charged with terroristic threats and threatening the use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Chief Brian Tempest said the business was closed for almost five hours while the inside and outside of the building were searched by police and Washington County sheriff’s Deputy Kristie Salzman and her K-9, Obie, who is trained to detect explosives. Tempest said the building is very large and required a significant amount of time to go through. The chief said Allegheny County Bomb Squad was on standby in case a device was found.

Myers allegedly called 911 at 9:05 a.m. from inside the business at 528 Trax Road, Union Township, telling the call taker there was a bomb inside the building. Police responded and evacuated the occupants.

“We knew the call came from inside the building.” Tempest said. “We started going to each telephone and hit redial until we came up with the one that called 911.”

The telephone used was in an area of the business where plants are potted.

“We figured that there was a 99 in 100 chance that the caller was an employee because the customers do not have access to the telephones,” Tempest said.

Police reviewed surveillance in the area and learned Myers was the only person to go into the potting area during the time when the bomb threat was called in to 911.

“He openly admitted to calling in the threat,” Tempest said. “He said he wasn’t having a good day, so he decided to call in the threat.”

The management and owners of Trax were very cooperative with police and willing to do what was necessary, Tempest said. Reporters attempted to get a comment from a representative of Trax, but were hung up on.

Myers was arraigned before District Judge David Mark and released from Washington County jail after posting $25,000 bond. He is scheduled for a May 2 hearing.