[1]Marcus T. Dantinne, left, accompanied by attorney Shane O’Rourke, told the judge he was sorry for what he did.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The 24-year-old who called in an anonymous bomb threat to a Morton lumber mill and admitted to police he just wanted to get a friend out of work so they could hang out was sentenced today to house arrest.
Marcus T. Dantinne pleaded guilty to threat to bomb property, a felony. He apologized this morning in Lewis County Superior Court.
“I truly am greatly sorry for all the badness I’ve caused throughout this,” Dantinne told the judge. “I’m seeking attention from Cascade Mental Health right now.”
Dantinne, who lives with his mother in Morton, was arrested on Nov. 17, after the scare that shut down Alta Forest Products just north of town of some 60 employees. The company’s mill in Shelton was also evacuated because they didn’t know if the threat was site specific.
Police traced the call to Dantinne who reportedly took the phone apart so he wouldn’t be discovered.
Dantinne spent two days jail before being allowed to wait out his case by posting an unsecured, but co-signed $10,000 bond. His mother was with him in the courtroom today.
He faced a standard sentencing range of three to nine months of lockup, but the lawyers agreed to recommend he be sentenced as a first-time offender, meaning zero to 90 days in jail.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead and defense attorney Shane O’Rourke agreed he should serve one month, and suggested to the judge he be allowed to do so under electronic home monitoring.
This morning in court, O’Rourke read a letter from Dantinne’s social worker regarding his eligibility for the alternative; she expressed he suffered from severe social anxiety, and that confinement at the county jail would be detrimental.
The young man has several issues, one of which is autism spectrum disorder, but has been very focused on his outpatient treatment, according to the letter.
Judge Nelson Hunt went along with the sentence.
“Kind of a stupid reason for a bomb threat,” Hunt said. “Usually there’s more to it, than I want a day off with my friend.”
Hunt advised him he has lost his right to possess firearms, and ordered him to begin his electronic home monitoring stint by the evening of March 17.
Dantinne will be under supervision for a year, during which he will have to comply with all his treatment requirements, according to Halstead.
Not yet determined, is the amount he will owe in restitution.
Halstead told the judge the mill indicates the hoax cost them a tad bit over $42,000.
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For background, read “Authorities: ‘Dumb’ bomb threat brings class B felony charge” from Wednesday November 19, 2014, here [2]