Bomb threats sent to Maine State House, 2 legislators, Democratic Party

The Maine State House in Augusta was evacuated Friday after an emailed bomb threat targeted the State House, the office of the Maine Democratic Party and the homes of two legislators. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA — Capitol Police evacuated the State House on Friday morning after bomb threats were made to two legislators, the State House and the Maine Democratic Party, but the claims were deemed hoaxes after nothing was found.

The threat, which was also emailed to the Portland Press Herald, promised death to pedophiles. It included a number of typos, stating: “We are not (going) to stand idly by as you degenerates mutilate our children and push your perverted sexual fantasy upon us.”

The threat went on to claim bombs had been placed at the homes of state Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais, and state Sen. Donna Bailey, D-York, as well as at the headquarters for the Maine Democratic Party and the Maine State House. The email claimed bombs would “detonate in a few hours” and ended with an expletive.

While the threat’s motive wasn’t entirely clear, it came after hearings this week by the Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee on a contentious bill that would shield Maine’s health care providers from laws in other states that ban or limit abortions or gender-affirming care. Perry and Bailey are the chairs of that committee.

Much of the testimony against that bill, L.D. 227, has cited moral objections to abortion and gender-affirming care for children. Some critics, such as Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, have called gender-affirming health care “gender mutilation surgery.”

Maine’s Capitol Police were made aware of the threat about 7:15 a.m. and evacuated about 100 people, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety. The building was temporarily shut down and police dogs from the Maine State Police Bomb Unit searched the building.

Capitol and Augusta police officers and other local agencies coordinated to clear the Maine Democratic Party office on Water Street and the homes of Perry and Bailey.

The state Democratic Party offices at 320 Water St. in Augusta are shown Friday morning, after a hoax bomb threat was made against the location and others. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

No explosives were found, and no one was injured during the evacuation, authorities said.

While no one was at the Maine Democratic Party office Friday morning, the building at 320 Water St. was evacuated, and no bomb was found.

Annina Breen, communications director for the Maine Democratic Party, said she and her colleagues don’t know what may have prompted the threat.

“We’re just as curious as everybody else. We can’t comment on the nature of the threat at this time,” she said.

Several hoax threats have plagued state and local officials in recent months, including in January when Maine’s State House was among many across the country to receive threats. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows also received a number of threats in the days after she decided to remove former President Donald Trump from Maine’s Republican primary ballot citing his alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, in a move that she reversed Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against such action. In addition, courthouses in Augusta and Portland were evacuated in January following bomb threat hoaxes.