A 35-year-old Salem man has been arrested by Salem Police on four counts of felony disorderly conduct in connection with four alleged bomb threats to Schutt Sports.
Damon DeBoer of South Jefferson reportedly made the threats on two separate days, including two on Monday. He was an employee of the plant and reportedly had been released from the Marion County Jail on a drug court sanction early Monday morning so he could go to work. He was scheduled to work the first shift.
Salem Police say the initial call was received at 4:54 Monday morning from a male who stated there were three bombs inside Schutt Sports. Officers from the Salem Police Department and the Secretary of State Police’s Bomb Squad responded and searched the factory which had been evacuated.
While officers were still on the scene the same male made a second call on a different number to 911 stating that the bomb would go off at 11:30 AM. Officers secured the factory and no explosives were located.
The first call made was able to be tracked to a residence at 1201 South Jefferson in Salem. A search warrant was obtained for the residence and DeBoer, who was an occupant of the home, was taken into custody. The phone used to call 911 was located on DeBoer at the time of his arrest.
The first two felony disorderly conduct charges are the result of the Monday incidents. The other two occurred in August. The first incident was on August 12th. Police say DeBoer had told a supervisor that a stranger had approached him while he was outside at work and told him a bomb was going to go off at Schutt. The second incident involved a 911 call made on August 17 from one of the same numbers that called on September 12th. Police say the same male caller threatened that there was a bomb inside Schutt Sports, however, no bomb was located.
DeBoer had been placed in the drug court program in May after pleading guilty to burglary and aggravated battery charges.
