MARIANNA — Authorities have arrested a Marianna man for allegedly calling in a bomb threat to a former employer, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.
More than 2,000 workers were evacuated after Assurant Insurance Company in Miami received the bomb threat in November of last year. The phone call was recorded and traced to a pay phone at the Florida Welcome Center in Campbellton, and employees of the insurance company contacted JCSO, according to the news release.
The insurance company suspected a former employee, 47-year-old Michael Paul Pharmer, might be responsible, JCSO reported.
JCSO investigators contacted the Florida Welcome Center and obtained a video from their surveillance system showing a subject matching Pharmer’s description in the building. Employees told authorities the man requested change for the pay phone.
Investigators said they later questioned Pharmer and he admitted to making the phone call, reporting that a pipe bomb was going to go off inside the building. Pharmer was arrested on Jan. 8 without incident and taken to the Jackson County Correctional Facility. Pharmer has been charged with making false report about planting bomb/ explosive.