Sheriff: Courthouse Threat From Illinois

Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris said it appears Tuesday’s “explosives-threat” post on Facebook originated in Illinois.

Sheriffs deputies and bomb-sniffing canines searched the Putnam County Courthouse just after 1pm Tuesday when the post appeared. They found no evidence of any kind of explosive.

“It may take a little while to run that down but thank goodness that was all clear,” Farris said.

Officials offered the all-clear around 2pm Tuesday.

Farris said investigators will now ask for assistance from Facebook officials in finding out information on the person who posted the threat.

“We’re going to need some computer work done,” Farris said. “It will be a little bit of a process.”

An online Facebook page said the company requires “a valid subpoena issued in connection with an official criminal investigation” in order to disclose basic consumer information. That could include name, email addresses, IP addresses or credit card information.

In the social media world, Farris said every threat of any kind will be considered as a real threat. He said he spoke at Monday’s night school safety meeting at Cookeville High School about just how seriously law enforcement looks at social media posts.

“We have to take that seriously to get to the bottom of it and run that information down until we find out that it is not credible,” Farris said. “Run that information down until we can do something about it, make an arrest and hopefully prevent anything from happening.”

“We take them very seriously.”