CLEARFIELD – A Morrisdale man is facing charges for leaving a suspicious package outside of his ex-wife’s attorney’s office that shut down downtown Clearfield on Monday morning.
Tyler Daniel Thompson, 26, is charged by Officer Dylan R. Kahley of the Clearfield Borough police with felony serious public inconvenience and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
He was arraigned Tuesday afternoon and is being held at the Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail. He’s scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing June 17.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police received a report about the suspicious package outside of the law offices at 207 E. Market St., at 7:27 a.m. Monday.
The package was a military-style crate, there wasn’t a note left with it and the attorney who found it was concerned that it possibly contained an explosive device or other harmful agent.
At the scene, officers learned that 57 cases were on the schedule at the Clearfield County Courthouse that’s located directly across the street.
Because of the package’s proximity to the courthouse and the volume of cases on the schedule that day, police shut down East Market Street, blocking the intersections at both Second and Third streets.
County sheriff’s deputies assisted with the street’s shut down while Police Chief Vincent McGinnis requested response from a bomb squad.
At this point, police decided to shut down and evacuate the immediate area surrounding the courthouse due to the potential harm of the package and its unknown contents.
Both vehicular and pedestrian traffic were shut down from East Locust to Cherry streets and from Third to Front streets, according to a previous report.
Emergency Management was requested to set up a command center; and PennDOT, with assistance from fire police, helped divert traffic away from the East Market Street area.
Police also evacuated the Dimeling senior housing apartments, and the seniors were taken to a temporary shelter. This created a lot of turmoil for most of these elderly individuals, police said.
While two bomb squads were en route, county dispatch advised officers that Thompson called, stating he had left the box and its contents were papers for his ex-wife’s attorney.
Soon thereafter, bomb squads from Penn State University and the Pennsylvania State Police arrived on-scene and determined the package contained a note and personal photographs.
The photographs appeared to belong to Thompson’s ex-wife. The note stated the box was for her attorney and it was the “last piece of good faith that would be shown.”
Following the incident, police learned that Thompson had made a Facebook post containing a video in which he reportedly commented that his “divorce was not theatrical enough.”
Officers attempted to locate the video; however, it had been taken down, according to the affidavit.