ECRU, Miss. - More than 1,000 employees at Ashley Furniture's manufacturing plant in Ecru, Mississippi were evacuated for five hours last Friday due to a bomb threat.

 

Bomb-detection dogs were called in, and after searching for five hours, the Fire Marshal's office determined that the threat was a hoax.

 

After an investigation, police have arrested 26-year-old employee Gavin McWilliams for phoning in the false threat. McWilliams has been working at the Ashley manufacturing plant for a week. Police are unsure of the motive. McWilliams is currently in jail. 

 

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Making a false bomb threat is a felony which carries up to a 10 years sentence, a maximum $10,000 fine, and restitution.

Ashley's Ecru management say the evacuation, which resulted in downtime and lost wages, caused around $1.7 million in losses.

The search and evacuation began at around 10 am Friday. The second shift, beginning at 6 pm, resumed normally.