By Associated Press
McAlester, OK – Bomb threat empties courthouse
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) Authorities say the Pittsburg County Courthouse was evacuated because someone called a bomb threat into the office of a judge.
The sheriff's department ordered the evacuation after the clerk of District Judge Thomas Bartheld received an anonymous call about 2:15 p.m. Friday implying that a bomb was on the premises.
Judges, employees, courthouse patrons, public officials and shackled inmates left the building while law enforcement officers conducted a sweep. No explosive device was found.
Bartheld has come under fire recently for signing off on a plea deal reached by prosecutors and David Earls, an ex-convict who pleaded no contest to rape and sodomy charges for raping a 4-year-old girl and received a one-year prison term.
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Information from: McAlester News-Capital, http://www.mcalesternews.com
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.