Woman Allegedly Threatens to Bomb Covid Medical Plant... But Not for the Reason You Think

A Maine woman threatened to blow up a medical plant in order to get her boyfriend off work, police claim.

Around 400 people had to be evacuated from both Puritan Medical Products' facilities in Pittsfield on Thursday morning, after a woman called Main State Police at 9 AM to claim she was going to place a bomb there.

According to the Portland Press Herald, the same woman called in two hours later and warned she was going to place four pipe bombs at the factories, which produce swabs for medical use, primarily for COVID-19 tests.

State Police immediately notified Pittsfield PD and the sheriff's offices in both Somerset and Penobscot counties, while Pittsfield Fire Department, the building owner's security team and even the FBI got involved.

Kristy Rizzitello, director of HR for the company, told the outlet the decision was immediately made to fully evacuate both factories.

Investigators managed to trace the call back to the town of Etna, and after interviewing neighbors, narrowed it down to one suspect: 33-year-old Kayla Marie Blake.

After interviewing her, they said the Blake confessed, and they quickly determined there were no bombs.

They also, according to the Bangor Daily News, discovered the motive: one of the 400 employees was her boyfriend, and she wanted to spend more time with him.

Blake was charged with one felony count of terrorizing, and taken to the Somerset County Jail.

Her bail was set at $1,500 and she was ordered to keep away from Puritan properties, and not to contact the company.

Employees were allowed to return Friday morning; Puritan meanwhile is still estimating the cost of the disruption, which they say lost them an entire day's production.

"It was great teamwork," Pittsfield Police Chief Harold Bickmore told the Herald. "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."