Woman Called In Two Bomb Threats To Medical Supply Store To Spend More Time With Boyfriend

An Etna woman has been accused of calling in two bomb threats to a medical supply store where her boyfriend worked in order to spend more time with him on Thursday, Sept. 23.

Kayla Blake, 33, has been arrested and charged with a felony count of terrorizing after she made two separate bomb threats toward her boyfriend's workplace, Puritan Medical Products, forcing evacuations and disrupting manufacturing operations that affected over 400 people, according to Law & Crime.

On Thursday, Sept. 23 at around 9 a.m, Blake reportedly called the Maine State Police and threatened that she was going to place a bomb at the Puritan plant located at 129 North Main Street. Two hours later, Blake again made a second call and said that she was going to place four pipe bombs near the facility, Pete Bickmore, Pittsfield police Chief Harold said.

Law enforcement traced the call to Etna with the help of Pittsfield police, as well as Somerset and Penobscot County deputies, interviewed people in the neighborhood, and identified Blake to be the culprit. After the authorities confronted Blake, she allegedly confessed and said there were no bombs, WABI reported.

Puritan, a Guilford-based company, has two manufacturing sites in Pittsfield, which are near each other. The manufacturing sites produce swabs for medical use that are primarily used for COVID-19 tests.

After receiving the threat calls, the company reportedly evacuated both of its Pittsfield locations. The threats affected about 400 people, including employees already on the first shift and those on the second shift, who were told not to go to work. The company is still calculating the losses but believes that the losses equate to a full day of production.

Blake faces a count of felony terrorizing and has been held at the Somerset County Jail on a $1,500 bail. Blake is reportedly banned from approaching Puritan Medical Products' properties or contacting them in the future, according to The Portland Press Herald.

Bickmore said that several other agencies including the Pittsfield Fire Department, the FBI, and Cianbro security were also involved in the investigation. Bickmore said that the Pittsfield police force has been short-staffed for months and appreciated the assistance that he received from other agencies.

“It was a great investigation and hard work by Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office deputies. I can’t say enough about all their hard work and the support we got from the Maine State Police and the FBI,” Bickmore said.