RIPLEY, Miss. - Ashley Furniture was forced to evacuate its manufacturing plant in Ripley, Mississippi after it received a bomb threat.

 

Charleston Hudson, 38, was arrested and charged with "bomb, explosives, weapons of mass destruction false report of."

 

The Southern Sentinel reports that the Tippah County Sheriff's Department received a call early morning July 20 that there was a bomb in the Ashley facility. The police quickly notified Ashley, who evacuated the building in just a few minutes.

 

The Mississippi Highway Patrol then cleared the building with the help of a bomb dog. They found nothing. Employees returned to work around noon.

 

Upon viewing Ashley security camera footage, police identified Hudson as a person of interest, who was seen talking on his phone the same time the call came in. He was taken into custody and confessed, police report. It's unclear if Hudson is an Ashley employee.

 

Hudson is being held on a $15,000 bond.

 

Established in 1945, Ashley is the largest manufacturer of home furnishings in the world. The company had $5.7 billion in annual sales in 2019. It runs 12 manufacturing plants and employs more than 31,000 workers.