FBI joins in hunt to find Charlevoix bomb hoax suspect

CHARLEVOIX — Charlevoix police are working with the FBI to identify the hoaxster that called in a fake bomb threat on Aug. 11 that closed down U.S. 31 and and evacuated a block of the downtown business district.

Charlevoix Police Chief Gerard Doan said the call came in at 2:32 p.m. The call said there were bombs located at the bridge and a sniper was in the area. 

“The bridge was immediately shut down,” Doan said. “We checked the bridge immediately, closed down the traffic, found nothing suspicious.” 

The Charlevoix County Sheriff's Department placed a sharp shooter on the roof of Hotel Earl to cover the area from the potential threat, according to hotel owner Paul Silva. He said his staff were surprised when the officer rushed into the building and announced his purpose. 

Doan said the incident is similar to a bomb threat that closed downtown Harbor Springs in January 2021. In that instance, a caller was using live stream video of the downtown area to make the threat. Doan said they quickly moved to cover up similar camera feeds. 

More:Harbor Springs bomb threat was false alarm

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“I was able to contact one of the business owners and get up on top of the view and took towels right away and covered up the cameras within 10 minutes,” Doan said.  

Doan said the caller was still on the line with central dispatch at that time, and after the cameras were covered they said it was a hoax. 

“We have a bomb dog coming in right now (to make sure) … but after that everything’s going to be opened back up again,” Doan said. 

As in the Harbor Springs incident, Doan said “chances are this is going to come in overseas.” The Harbor Springs threat was made from Great Britain. 

More:Potential suspect identified in Harbor Springs bomb threat

The downtown closure did not last long. By 4:50 p.m., the Michigan State Police's bomb dogs cleared the area above and under the bridge and water, pedestrian and vehicular traffic was able to resume. 

On Friday, Doan said they "are pretty sure the call came from overseas" but there is no new information available on the suspect. 

Contact reporter Annie Doyle at adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com