2005 Year in Review

Courthouse Evacuated -- Bomb Threat

“We just received a call from Winnebago County Jail this morning that the call came from their facility,” stated Whiteside County Sheriff Roger Schipper. The call he is talking about was a bomb threat that Whiteside County Courthouse received Wednesday morning, April 6, 2005 at 9:50 a.m.

Three collect calls came into the courthouse stating occupants needed to get out, there was a bomb placed in the facility. Sheriff Schipper ordered the Whiteside County Courthouse evacuated. The building was searched and the courthouse was reopened after no suspicious packages were found at about 10:30 a.m.

Alerts were sent out to correctional facilities to trace phone calls possibly made at that particular time from their facilities.

Winnebago County Jail will be conducting an investigation to pin point, which phone the calls were made from, and the individual or individuals who made the calls.

Sheriff Schipper and several deputies are continuing the investigation.

by Dawn Zuidema, theCity1.com
April 7, 2005