NEWPORT NEWS - Authorities say a man called in a bomb threat to Newport News Courts last month so he didn't have to show up for sentencing.
The February 20 call forced the evacuation of the three city courthouses so authorities could check the buildings.
The sheriff's office says 21-year old Devon Tyrell Slaughter made the call from a payphone outside a convenience store on Marshall Avenue. He was trying to delay his sentencing hearing on a malicious wounding conviction, officials said.
Slaughter faces four counts of threats to bomb, a Class 5 felony that carries up to ten years in prison and up to a $2,500 fine, said spokeswoman Kathleen Carey.
It was the second arrest by the sheriff's office of someone making a threat, she added.
