Man won't be prosecuted for making threats to blow up courthouse

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Charges against a man who threatened to blow up the county courthouse in 2009 were dismissed Friday.

The Linn County Attorney's Office filed a motion to dismiss two felony counts of threats and one count of first-degree harassment against Robert Bates, 45, a carnival business operator.

According to a criminal complaint, Bates, a former city council candidate, called a St. Luke's mental health care employee on Nov. 29, 2009, claiming he was going to Missouri to buy explosives to "blow up the courthouse."  He also was accused of calling a foundation employee and claiming he was going to "kill hundreds of people and blow up the courthouse."

Assistant Linn County Attorney Jason Besler said he requested medical records from Bates, which were provided last week. It was determined Bates was making "idle talk" and didn't intend to present a "real" threat. Instead, Bates' behavior stemmed from a medical condition, which means he wasn't responsible for statements made.

The employees who took the calls that day were not pressing for criminal charges to be filed because of the circumstances in which they were made, Besler said.

"If we (the state) had known everything then that we know now, it would have been handled differently," Besler said.