Reward offered in YMCA bomb threat case

UPDATE @ 4 p.m. (April 22):

Sidney police need your help identifying a person who used a pay phone Tuesday in the east entrance of a Walmart to report a bomb was in the area’s YMCA.

Detectives were able to determine the 9-1-1 was generated from the specific pay phone at 4:24 p.m.

The Sidney-Shelby County YMCA was evacuated and closed as a result of the call. A search by Sidney police and fire personnel, as well as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base bomb-detecting dogs, turned up no device.

Anyone with information is asked to call 937-498-TIPS. A reward up to $500 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the call.

FIRST REPORT:

Police have a person of interest in a telephoned bomb threat to the Sidney-Shelby County YMCA that caused the evacuation of the building, the police chief said.

“We have a person of interest that police will be looking into,” Chief William Balling said Tuesday evening, a few hours after a sweep of the facility on East Parkwood Street turned up nothing.

The police dispatch center received a threat via a 911 call that there was a bomb at the YMCA, the chief said. That call came in at 4:24 p.m.

In less than 30 minutes, police notified the Y’s executive director who made the decision to evacuate the building for safety.

Sidney police officers, city firefighters and bomb-detecting dogs with the Wright-Patterson Explosive Ordnance Disposal team searched the facility, Balling said.

Although a person of interest has been identified, no arrests had been made as of Tuesday night, Balling said.

The Y is to reopen at 5 a.m. Wednesday, he said.

If you have any information about the incident, you are asked to contact Capt. Jerry Tangeman at 937-498-2351 or jtangeman@sidneyoh.com, Balling said.