Duluth man charged with threat to social worker

A 54-year-old Duluth man who allegedly told a local social worker he’d placed an explosive device in her car was charged July 31 with a felony in State District Court.
Timothy Lee Carlson remained in St. Louis County Jail on Monday, facing a threats of violence charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The incident on July 28 resulted in police responses to two downtown locations, including blocking access to the Civic Center.
According to the criminal complaint filed in District Court in Duluth, Carlson left a threatening voicemail on the social worker’s cellphone, telling her “he had placed C4 activator on (the worker’s) vehicle and that she needed to meet with him in order to deactivate the device.”
The worker was participating in community court at the St. Louis County Courthouse at the time the voicemail was left. At 4:30 p.m., she reported the voicemail to a Duluth police officer.
Because the worker drove both a private vehicle and a work vehicle, the Duluth Police Department “was immediately burdened with the need to marshal significant resources,” said the complaint, noting that one of the cars was parked outside the courthouse, near Duluth City Hall, and the other at the Duluth Transportation Center on Michigan Street downtown - two highly populated locations which also increased the level of response among law enforcement.
Carlson was located in the downtown area within a short amount of time and was taken to the Duluth police substation located in the transit center, where he was interviewed and explained the threat was a hoax. He said he only intended the voicemail to result in a quick response from the social worker, because he needed a ride. Carlson’s girlfriend corroborated the threat as a hoax, the criminal complaint reported.
Carlson’s bail was set at $20,000.