Contract Worker Charged In Miss. Refinery Hoax
February 05, 2009

A Louisiana man has been arrested for making a fake bomb threat at Chevron's Pascagoula Refinery on Monday, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said.

Christopher Chenevert, 39, of Louisiana 115 in Bunkie, was a contract worker at the Pascagoula refinery, where he's accused of posting a note in a portable bathroom that said there was a bomb on the property.

Authorities said the note was discovered after midnight Monday, prompting local, state and federal authorities to search the property in the Orange Grove community of Jackson County.

Canines trained to detect explosives also were brought in from Mississippi and Alabama to assist in the initial search for the bomb.

After it was determined that the threat was a hoax, Byrd said sheriff's deputies along with other local, state and federal authorities spent hours comparing hundreds of handwriting samples to identify Chenevert as a suspect. It was unclear what prompted Chenevert to leave the note.

Whatever the reason, Chevron spokesman Steve Renfro said, "we've been fully supportive of the Sheriff's Department, the FBI and Homeland Security, and we're pleased with the progress of the investigation."

Chenevert was taken to the Jackson County jail, where he was being held Wednesday pending a bond hearing.

Source: The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

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