DES MOINES, Wash. — A man who was charged last month with calling in a bomb threat to the Des Moines post office told authorities he did it because he wanted to go to jail, charging documents said.
On Nov. 24, 2018, at about 11 a.m., 911 dispatchers received a call from a man saying he had placed a bomb at the Des Moines post office, according to US Postal Inspector John Wiegand. He then hung up.
At time of the call, the post office was open and there were multiple customers and employees in the building.
Police from Des Moines and the Port of Seattle, as well as the US Postal Inspection, searched the building with multiple K-9 units and no bomb was found, probable cause documents said.
That night, King County deputies were called to the 13 Coins restaurant in SeaTac after a man, later identified as William Joseph Green, told multiple customers there that he wanted to go to jail, so earlier that day, he had called in a bomb threat to the Des Moines post office, according to Wiegand.
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Deputies interviewed Green, 66, who told them he wanted to go to jail, so he called in the threat from his room at the SeaTac Motel 6, court documents said.
Des Moines police Officer Oaks arrived at the scene shortly after and spoke with Green. When he heard Green's voice, he recognized it as the same voice he heard on the 911 recording from earlier that day, court records show.
It is not known why Green wanted to go to jail, but police documents show he lived at the Motel 6 and was unemployed at the time of the incident.
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