A collection agency in California received a bomb threat yesterday, forcing the evacuation of more than 300 individuals.
The bomb threat was called in just before noon yesterday to Performant, a collection agency with an office in Lathrop, Calif. The agency contacted authorities, and the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office dispatched its Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit to the scene. They were joined by the Lathrop-Manteca Fire Department and the Port of Stockton Police Department, which brought a bomb-sniffing dog to the location.
About an hour later, the sheriff’s office posted an update to its Facebook page, saying the facility housing the collection agency “was checked and cleared by the EOD team and the Port of Stockton Police detection canine. No further information at this time as it is still an open investigation.”
One individual posted a comment to one of the sherriff’s office’s posts on Facebook that employees were let into the building about four hours after the bomb threat was called in.
This is not the first time that a bomb threat or similar incident has occurred at a collection agency. Earlier this year, a bomb threat was called into a Wisconsin collection agency. And, last year, an office of Portfolio Recovery Associates in Tennessee was evacuated after a bomb threat was called in. Months before that, an explosive device — which turned out to be fake — was found outside a collection agency in Oregon.