Saugus man arrested for bomb hoax
November 23, 2010
GEORGETOWN — Police arrested a 23-year-old Saugus man in Boxford after a bizarre bomb hoax caused the evacuation of the Highway Department Complex in Georgetown on Friday.
Zachariah Alkhatabih, 23, of 5 Warden St., Apt. 11, Saugus, was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace and possession of a hoax device and marijuana possession.
Georgetown Police Chief James Mulligan said a call came in around 10 a.m. Friday regarding a suspicious person. He said it started when Alkhatabih allegedly got into an argument with someone from the Mello Disposal Corp., which is next door to the transfer station.
Mulligan said Alkhatabih left the transfer station after being asked and walked into the Highway Department Complex at 203 East Main St.
He spoke with the supervisor’s assistant before becoming hostile with Highway Surveyor Peter Durkee.
Mulligan said Alkhatabih yelled at Durkee then allegedly threw a package on Durkee’s desk and said, “That will change your life” and then fled the building.
Detective Thomas DeJoy and Sgt. Donald Cudmore responded to Durkee’s office.
Mulligan said Durkee said Alkhatabih seemed disoriented and confused. The package, however, was also a little confusing.
“We knew it was a laptop computer, but we didn’t know what else it might be,” Mulligan said. “We called the State Police Bomb Squad.”
The officers evacuated the Highway Department and Mello Corp. The bomb squad, Mulligan said, “did all the things a bomb squad does to a package.”
While there were extra wires that Mulligan said caused some consternation, in the end the package was just a laptop. The highway complex was reopened by 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Mulligan said he put an all-points-bulletin out on Alkhatabih’s vehicle.
“An officer in Boxford pulled him over and held him for us until we got there,” he said.
Alkhatabih was charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device. Mulligan said officers also found marijuana in his vehicle.
Stephen O’Connell, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, said the suspect pleaded innocent Friday afternoon in Haverhill District court. He was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for evaluation and released on $10,000 bail. Alkhatabih is due back in court Dec. 8 for a pretrial hearing.
“This was unusual for any Police Department but especially in a small town, things like this don’t usually happen,” Mulligan said. “I don’t know why he picked Georgetown.”
Used with permission from www.itemlive.com, an affiliate of Hastings & Sons Publishing Company, Inc.
| 
