A Woodstock man was sentenced to conditional discharge after pleading guilty to calling in a bomb threat to a national real estate company which prompted the evacuation of over 1,000 employees.
Patrick S. Bangeman, 76, of the 300 block of Railroad Street in Woodstock, was charged last May with transmitting a false bomb threat, a Class 3 felony.
Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb said that an individual, later identified as Bangeman, called Move Inc., which operates the listing site Realtor.com.
Bangeman told the call taker on March 28 that a bomb was in their facility and would go off in the next 25 minutes, Lieb said.
The company has call centers across the United States. The man did not identify which facility the alleged bomb was at.
Lieb said the company took the threat seriously and evacuated nine offices in five different states.
The evacuation affected over 1,000 employees. The company notified the Woodstock Police Department after learning the call originated out of the Woodstock area.
Detectives began investigating and evidence led them to Bangeman, Lieb said.
Officers took Bangeman into custody and transported him to the McHenry County Jail.
A judge initially ordered Bangeman held on a $50,000 bond but his public defender filed a motion requesting a lower bond, court records show.
Bangeman was released from jail after a judge allowed him to be released on a personal recognizance bond.
Court records show Bangeman entered into a negotiated plea deal with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office on Thursday.
He pleaded guilty to an amended count of transmitting a false alarm, a Class 4 felony, in exchange for his more serious Class 3 felony charge being dismissed.
McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis sentenced Bangeman to two years of conditional discharge and ordered him to pay $624 in court costs and fines.
Davis also ordered Bangeman to undergo an anger management evaluation and follow the recommendations of it.