Kmart Employee Arrested For Making Multiple Bomb Threats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- A store employee was arrested for stealing store merchandise and making multiple anonymous bomb threats over a four-month span.

Between December 2104 and March 2015, 16 bomb threats were phoned into the Kmart store at Crofton Centre in Crofton, Maryland. Each time a threat was made, the store was open for business and evacuated.

Police and fire personnel would immediately respond to the scene of each threat, only to find no evidence of any bomb or potentially dangerous explosives.

In March 2015, Kmart managers discovered that employee Leslie Elton Cranston, 47, had been stealing store property. Cranston admitted to calling in the false reports while under arrest, and has since been sentenced to 6.5 years in jail and supervised probation for 5 years.

"There is no place for false threats, or theft, in society," said Anne Arundel County State's Attorney, Wes Adams.

Cranston was also ordered to pay $1700 in restitution to the Anne Arundel County police department, fire department and his store manager.