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Suspect caught in Schuylkill courthouse threat

A Mechanicsville woman is in Schuylkill County prison after leaving a bomb threat with the answering service for the Children and Youth Service Agency early Monday morning.

Jaclyn Marie Hollywood, 34, was charged by investigating officer Detective Kirk Becker with threats to use weapons of mass destruction, terroristic threats, criminal use of a communication facility, all third degree felonies; and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.“The Pottsville Police investigation revealed that Hollywood had called the Schuylkill County Children and Youth telephone number at about 8:15 a.m. and told an answering service employee that a bomb was set to explode in the Schuylkill County courthouse at 9:30 a.m. today. The threat caused the evacuation and shut down of not only the courthouse, but all county offices. The evacuation and subsequent search of the court house was coordinated by the Schuylkill County Sheriff’s office, while the Pottsville Bureau of Police conducted the criminal investigation,” Pottsville Police Chief Richard F. Wojciechowsky said in a press release late Monday.“With the assistance of Comcast employees, officers learned the origination number of the threatening call and were subsequently able to identify Hollywood as being the registered owner of that particular cellular number,” he said.police found her at home, and took her to the police station at City Hall for an interview.Hollywood “confirmed to Becker that she was scheduled to attend a hearing with Children and Youth today and admitted to making the bomb threat call from her cellular phone. She also confirmed there never was any device actually placed,” Wojciechowsky said.Hollywood was arraigned by on-call District Judge James Ferrier of Orwigsburg and jailed on $250,000 bail.She’ll face a preliminary hearing before District Judge James K. Reiley, Pottsville. A date for that hearing has yet to be scheduled.After learning of the threat, county commissioners, President Judge William E. Baldwin, and County Administrator Gary R. Bender “acted out of an abundance of caution to suspend operations at all county offices,” John Blickley of the county Office of Emergency Management said in a press release. Commissioners were contacted by the county Emergency Management Agency.  Some staff members were inside at the time, and the Sheriff’s Department decided to evacuate the building, said Commissioners Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr.“An incident occurred, and the Sheriff’s office contacted Pottsville police, who took the lead on the investigation,” he said. “The decision was made early on, for safety of employees and the public, to close the courthouse today. We anticipate business as usual tomorrow morning,” Halcovage said Monday afternoon.“We have an excellent police force that is very capable in their investigative skills at the helm. We allow the professionals to make recommendations to us as to how to handle situations like this.”Pottsville police assisted with the evacuation and a search of the building and the parking lot. One officer was seen with a German shepherd checking the outside of the courthouse and around cars in the parking lot. A police cruiser blocked the parking lot entry.This is the second threat to the courthouse in two years.In 2014, Todd Dohner, then 48, of Pine Grove, was arrested after for making calls to the courthouse overnight on Oct. 2, threatening to have terrorists shoot up a school unless the courthouse was closed by noon.Dohner, who didn’t identify himself, said in the call he was the leader of a “terrorist group” and would have his group shoot students at a school from 100 yards away at 3 p.m. if his demand was not met.He was caught by the same method used to catch Hollywood, and was charged with two counts of felony terroristic threats, two counts of felony criminal use of a communication facility and two counts of persistent disorderly conduct.County Judge James P. Goodman on May 26, 2015 sentenced Dohner to 30-60 months.