Arias Bomb Threat After Verdict, One Arrested

After the conviction of Jodi Arias, a bomb threat called into the courthouse interfered with proceedings in Maricopa County today, and police have netted one suspect in the incident.

The Jodi Arias bomb threat suspect was described as a local area resident who had been “holed up in a hotel” ahead of the verdict, and police say the man arrested is 18-year-old Laquint H. Cherry.

NBC News reports that Cherry had used Twitter to communicate after the Arias bomb threat, sending worrying messages with sinister undertones and threats against law enforcement officers.

The station says:

“Cherry resisted officers’ attempts to persuade him to surrender from his room in a hotel near Interstate 10 in Phoenix for several hours, all the while tweeting ‘threatening messages about not being taken alive’ and warning that he would ‘kill the cops surrounding him,’ the statement said … Eventually, Cherry was arrested without incident,’ it said.”‘

It seems some of the threats were also aimed at Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and the sheriff’s office indicated that “an actual bomb was mailed to the Sheriff, but was intercepted,” adding that “awareness for these kinds of threats is heightened.”

Another report indicates that social networking ultimately led police to the man they believe made the Arias bomb threat, and that detectives “traced the Twitter activity to a hotel in west Phoenix.”

At the hotel, both Cherry and a female companion identified as his girlfriend were found. Cherry was arrested and charged with a felony count of making threats, and the woman was questioned and released.

Before the Arias bomb threat, the verdict of guilty stunned the defendant, who has been put on suicide watch after the ruling.