Denison Texas Man Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison for Calling in Bomb Threat to the Mena Post Office and for Setting Fire to a Mena Business
Fort Smith, Arkansas – David Clay Fowlkes, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Jacob Samuel Green, age 26, of Denison, Texas, was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $145,272.25 in restitution on one count of Making Willful Threat by Mail or Telephone and one count of Maliciously Damaging and Destroying or Attempting to Damage and Destroy Real or Personal Property. The Honorable Judge P. K. Holmes III presided over the sentencing hearing today in the United States District Court in Fort Smith.
In the early morning hours of August 3, 2019, the Mena Police Department received a telephone call on its non-emergency phone line there was a bomb in one of the Postal Service vehicles at the Mena Post Office and when someone opens the door of the vehicle, it will blow up. Mena police officers responded to the Mena Post Office and while they were investigating, one of the officers noticed a fire had been set in the "Just for Kids" resale store located across the street of the post office. Police officers called the fire department, which were able to put out the fire after substantial damage to the building and its contents had occurred. At all relevant times, the resale store was operated by the Polk County Developmental Center which is a nonprofit corporation and the proceeds from the resale store were and are used to provide services for individuals with disabilities. During the investigation, officers were able to identify Green as being the caller and were able to trace the phone back to a hotel room in Mena that had been registered in Green’s name. Officers were able to locate and interview Green. During the interview, Green admitted to calling in the bomb threat and to setting the business on fire.
Green was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2020 and entered a guilty plea in February 2020.
This case was investigated by the Mena Police Department, Mena Fire Department, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, United States Postal Service, ATF and the Fort Smith Bomb Squad. Assistant United States Attorney Claude Hawkins prosecuted the case for the Western District of Arkansas.
###
