Man charged in Wilmington courthouse bomb scare

WILMINGTON, N.C. — A Wilmington man was charged late Monday with placing an electronic device outside the New Hanover County Courthouse and calling in a bomb threat.

Someone called from a pay phone Monday morning and told authorities there was a bomb on the steps of the courthouse. Bomb squads from the Wilmington Police Department and the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office removed the unidentified device.

Authorities later determined the device was a laser level, a tool commonly used in construction.

Andrew Jackson Williamson IV, 29, was charged with making a false bomb report to a public building. He was being held Tuesday in the New Hanover County Detention Facility under a $250,000 bond.

Williamson was convicted of dealing drugs in New Hanover County, once in 2003 and again in 2005, according to state Department of Correction records.