Westwood Man Charged With Fall River Courthouse Bomb Threat

FALL RIVER (CBS) – A Westwood man was arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the Fall River Justice Center.

The courthouse was evacuated Thursday in the middle of court proceedings, including the murder trial of Aaron Hernandez.

A bomb threat was also called in to Taunton District Court.

On Friday, police said Paul Haddad of Westwood was arrested and held on $5,000 cash bail.

Haddad was scheduled to be arraigned Friday inside the Fall River Justice Center.

"I am pleased that the Fall River Police Department was able to so quickly locate a suspect and place him under arrest. At this point, the investigation has revealed that the bomb threat had nothing to do with the Aaron Hernandez trial. I had a conversation with the lead prosecutor, Bill McCauley, and assured him that there was no connection," said Fall River police chief Daniel Racine.

"It should be clear that we will not allow, and have no tolerance for, distractions to take place at the Justice Center."