A bomb threat at the Faribault County Courthouse Monday afternoon doesn’t appear to be related to two others that occurred in Martin County last month.

As part of the investigation, Sheriff Mike Gormley says he contacted Martin County authorities to see if there might be a linked to threats at Wal-Mart on Feb. 10 and Cloverleaf Cold Storage plant on Feb. 27.

“We don’t have anything that points to that. The calls don’t match. That doesn’t mean the person didn’t change things up,” says Gormley.

The threat was received at 4:39 p.m., shortly after the courthouse had closed.

It took law enforcement officials about one hour to search the courthouse. The sheriff says five workers inside the building were evacuated and no one was in any danger.

Gormley described the caller’s voice as that of an “older male.” He says the person was hard to understand.

“He couldn’t get his words out the way he wanted. I don’t know if he was reading something he had written down,” he adds.

The caller, says the sheriff, indicated that a bomb was going to go off in three hours.

Anyone involved with making a bomb threat could face a felony charge of making terroristic threats. They also might have to pay the costs associated with authorities responding to the scene.

“We take things like this seriously. We will prosecute anybody who is responsible,” Gormley says.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at (507) 526-5148.