Man charged in bomb threat on Statehouse

A Michigan man accused of threatening a state lawmaker and falsely reporting a bomb in the state Capitol was arraigned Friday on terrorism charges.

Michael Varrone, 48, is facing two counts of false report or threat of terrorism and one count of making a false report or threat of bomb. Both charges are felonies.

One of the terrorism charges stems from threats made in December to Rep. Cynthia Johnson, a Democrat from Detroit, Michigan’s attorney general’s office said Friday.

On Thursday, a control operator at the Capitol complex in Lansing was told that everyone needed to evacuate because the Capitol was going to explode. The operator reported the threat to authorities. State police cleared employees to return after a sweep of the premises.

State police later arrested Varrone outside his home in Charlotte, about 20 miles southwest of Lansing.

The bomb threat came a day after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the presidential election.

State police Sgt. William Luebs wrote in a probable cause affidavit filed Friday that Varrone used his cellphone to leave the threatening voicemail Dec. 12.

“If there is one more threat by a Democratic person in Michigan that’s supposed to represent me, I will personally come down there and take over that (expletive) building at the Capitol,” the voicemail said. “If I’m threatened by another senator or anybody like Cynthia Johnson, I’ll personally take care of that (expletive) and their whole (expletive) family.”

Varrone stated his name and spelled his last name in the voicemail, Luebs wrote.

“The accused admitted that he is upset with the current political climate and what occurred at the United States Capitol (on Wednesday),” Luebs wrote.