Lyons, Trenton Peter

Trenton Peter Lyons, 30, Minot, is charged with making a bomb threat to the Merchants Bank in Towner at 10:27 a.m. Aug. 5.

He is charged with Class C felony terrorizing in district court in McHenry County. According to court documents, Lyons went into the bank multiple times and placed a suspicious device near a teller counter that was blinking and had tape around it. Lyons made a comment to a teller that he was “space cadet” and then left and returned again and made a comment about owning Towner and said everyone would know his name. The employees at the bank didn’t feel threatened but one called 911 to report the incident. The bank had to be evacuated and a perimeter was set up around the bank. The Minot Police Department bomb squad was called to assist. Law enforcement determined the device was not an explosive.

Lyons was located at J&J Food Market, next to the bank, and was reportedly picking things off the ground and putting them on a table. He smelled of alcohol, the court document stated. McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Detective Richard Juarez Jr. suspected Lyons was the culprit in the terrorizing incident. He had arrested Lyons two days earlier, on Aug. 3, at the Rafter Bar in Towner, and Lyons was charged with Class B misdemeanors of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.

According to court documents, Lyons had made a comment after his arrest at the bar about blowing up Rugby and said he is a member of a militia. According to court documents in that case, officers had received a report that Lyons was on the floor of the bar with a crack pipe and appeared to be high. He also was covered in paint and had cut himself on a broken wine bottle. He was ordered to leave the bar but stayed and refused to obey officers. Lyons was taken to the hospital, where he took off a finger pulse reader and broke it.

After he was arrested for allegedly making the bomb threat, Lyons told authorities that he had gone into the bank to open an account but was turned down because his credit is too poor. He claimed he had found the device in a trash can, taped it up and set it next to the piggy bank because he thought it looked nice.

Lyons is in custody at the Heart of America Correctional Center in Rugby. An initial appearance in the case is scheduled for Aug. 17 in Towner.