Police: Franklin man made threats

Daily Journal staff reports

Police have arrested a man they said called in bomb threats to the Johnson County Courthouse during the weekend.

Keith Laughlin, 61, 648 N. Main St., Apt. C, Franklin, was arrested on a charge of intimidation.

Police received a 911 call at 4:45 p.m. Saturday from a man who said a bomb would go off in the courthouse in 10 minutes. Police shut down the streets around the courthouse and evacuated anyone who was nearby.

Police also searched the building but didn’t find anything suspicious, a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report said.

At 5:18 p.m., the man called back, asking if the courthouse was clear, and saying the bomb would go off in 10 minutes.

The caller made two more calls to police within about 30 minutes, the report said.

Dispatchers found the phone number the threats were coming from was Laughlin’s, and the dispatch center also traced the calls to a cell tower near a home in the 200 block of 14th Street. Police went to the home later Saturday and arrested Laughlin, the report said.

Laughlin was taken to the Johnson County jail and held on $1,200 bond.