Bomb threats at Corbin restaurants turn out to be bogus

A Charles Knight may be behind the bomb threats called in to Hardee’s Wendy’s and McDonald’s restaurants in Corbin Wednesday and Thursday, but Corbin Police say it was not the Charles Knight that lives in Corbin.

According to Corbin Police Maj. Rob Jones, calls came in to the Hardee’s on South Main Street and the Wendy’s on U.S. 25E within minutes of each other about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

"The caller said his name was Charles Knight and his food orders had been wrong Tuesday and Wednesday so he placed bombs in the trash cans outside the stores to kill everyone inside," Jones said.

Corbin Police Colonel David Maiden was near the Hardee’s at the time and went to investigate, but found nothing in the trash cans.

Kentucky State Police responded to the threat at Wendy’s, evacuating the restaurant and bringing in a dog trained to sniff out explosives. However, no device was found.

As part of the investigation, police went to Charles Knight’s home on Bee Creek Road and interviewed him.

"He didn’t know what was going on," Jones said.

Jones said similar calls were made to McDonald’s on Master Street later Wednesday afternoon and again Thursday morning.

The calls were reported to police but neither restaurant was evacuated.

Police are in the process of getting subpoenas for the restaurants’ phone records in an effort to learn where the calls originated.

Jones noted the perpetrator(s) could be charged with second-degree terroristic threatening. Under Kentucky Law, the charge is a class "D" felony carrying a potential sentence of one to five years in prison.