Bomb Threat Briefly Interrupts Evening Shift at Palm Coast Data

A bomb scare briefly interrupted the evening shift Monday (Aug. 6) at Palm Coast Data as employees from the building that contains the company’s call center were evacuated. There was no bomb. Palm Coast Data, one of the county’s largest private-sector employers, has periodically been the target of such hoaxes.

A caller who identified himself as “Jerry Davis” called from a phone number that registered as 469/265-9669. The area code originates from Dallas-Fort Worth and surrounding regions. Davis claimed there was a bomb in the men’s bathroom, repeating the statement several times, according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s incident report. He then said “bye,” and hung up. ” Davis did not yell or scream on the phone. His voice and speech appeared deliberate and straight forward,” the report states. The call came in to the building at 11 Commerce Boulevard.

James Bradley, the company’s general manager, and another staffer checked four of the six bathrooms on the property, sheriff’s deputies conducted searches in two more bathrooms.

“During the search a small Titleist golf ball box was located under a sink in one of the women’s restrooms,” the report states. “On the box was a note which stated ‘DO NOT OPEN.'” But the box merely contained rat poison and had been there “for an extended period of time,” the report states.

A sheriff’s K-9 unit responded, prepared to conduct a “free air search of the building” for explosives. The general manager declined the search and all employees were allowed to reenter the building.

Three years ago employees at a different company building on Commerce Boulevard were evacuated after a suspicious white powder was discovered in one of the millions of mail items that pour into the facility every month. (The company is primarily a subscription fulfillment center.) That incident required the intervention of a hazmat team from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. It, too, proved harmless, other than for the disruption and the time lost.