Courthouse Bomb Threat Suspect Pleads Guilty

By Wendy Parker

The owner of a restaurant charged earlier this year with phoning in bomb threats to the Cobb and Cherokee courthouses has pleaded guilty. 

Jody John Wilson, 45, of Woodstock, received a negotiated sentence of 10 years, with one to serve and the rest on probation, according to Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds. 

Wilson, the owner of the Starlight Cafe near the Marietta Square, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of making terroristic threats and giving false statements in connection with phoned-in threats on real estate foreclosure dates in January and May. 

The Cobb and Cherokee courthouses were evacuated on both occasions, and no explosives were found. 

According to Reynolds, Wilson admitted to Cobb investigators he was facing bankruptcy and that he made the threats to stop a foreclosure on his home in Cherokee County. 

Wilson was arrested hours after the last call made on May 7 when Cobb Sheriff's Office deputies traced it to a pay phone at a Marietta gas station and identified him after viewing the gas station's video tape. 

He has been held without bond since then. 

Reynolds said Wilson apologized for his actions, but Douglas County Superior Court Judge William McClain, who presided over the Cobb case, refused to grant him first-offender status. 

“It is a desperate situation, and he made some desperate acts," said Roger Curry, Wilson's attorney.

Wilson also will pay $7,500 in restitution to Cherokee County, which called in additional officers to respond to the threats.