801 Crockett Street, Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318/ 673-6655 ● FAX: 318/ 673-6656 ● www.shreveportfire.org

Kelvin J. Cochran, Fire Chief

March 20, 2002

PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Multiple Bomb Threat Caller Arrested by Fire Investigators

A Shreveport man is behind bars this morning after calling several area residences and making bomb threats.

Fire officials arrested Robert Lee Lane Jr., 25, at his home in the 2700 block of Grassmere Street late last night after he allegedly called three different area homes with the threats.

The first threat was called to a home in the 1800 block of Nicholson Street at 8:22 p.m. A short time later, two subsequent threats were called into residents in the 2700 block of Meadow Avenue and the 10000 block of Raintree Drive. All of the threat conveyed some type of incendiary device that was set to detonate at midnight and meant to do harm to the occupants. All those who received threats contacted 911 to report the incidents.

Fire investigators were led to Lane after the first caller used their phone’s star 69 feature and were able to retrieve a phone number where the call originated. That number was fed into the Caddo 911 computer system, which produced the Grassmere address. Fire Investigator Fred Sanders said that when questioned at his residence, Lane admitted making the calls. He was arrested and booked into the city jail for "communicating false information of a planned arson." The charge is a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years of hard labor. Sanders reported that Lane made the calls randomly but that did not ease the worries of the victims. "They were very upset, and rightfully so," said Sanders. Several had to call family and friends over to calm their fears. ###