RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Making a bomb threat alleging an explosive device outside a building - not just inside - would be a felony in a measure unanimously approved Tuesday by the House.
The bill sponsor, Rep. Mark Hilton, R-Catawba, filed the bill after someone made a bomb threat to the Lenoir police department. Caldwell County prosecutors couldn't prosecute the case as strongly as they would have liked because the caller claimed the bomb was outside the building, Hilton said.
The measure, approved by a vote of 117-0 and sent to the Senate on a voice vote, makes clear a person making a bomb threat is guilty of a felony when the alleged destructive device is "in sufficient proximity to cause damage" to any public building.
