Bomb threat mom granted probation

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Mar. 24—LAMAR, Mo. — A Lamar woman was granted probation when she pleaded guilty to assisting her sons in forcing evacuation of Cox Barton County Hospital by calling in a bomb threat.

Terrie R. Walker, 62, pleaded guilty March 11 in Barton County Circuit Court to a count of first-degree terrorist threat in a plea agreement allowing a suspended sentence and probation.

Judge David Munton accepted the plea bargain and assessed a term of seven years with execution of the sentence suspended and the defendant placed on probation for five years.

Walker called the hospital twice within 48 seconds the afternoon of March 4, 2020, stating both times: "There's a bomb out there." The calls forced both patients and staff to leave the hospital while police and firefighters searched the building and grounds.

The calls were traced through an internet phone service provider to an Internet Protocol address located at the residence of Walker's son, Larry "Chris" Gates, in Lamar. Police went to the residence and made contact with Walker, who initially claimed she made the calls to warn the hospital about something she saw on her son Chris Gates' phone.

Jason Gates received a four-year prison sentence in the case. His older brother, Chris Gates, received a five-year suspended sentence and probation.

After arrest, Walker admitted having made the calls at Chris Gates' request after he received a message from Jason Gates, who was at the hospital at the time to submit a urine sample for drug testing required by his employer due to an accident that happened on the job.

According to a probable-cause affidavit, Jason Gates hoped the call would cause a delay in the drug testing allowing him another day to try to flush any evidence of drug use from his system.

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