New Milford bomb-threat caller was on a bender, police say

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A massive emergency response in New Milford today was prompted by a 53-year-old borough man who was heavily intoxicated when he left a series of rambling voice mails about a bomb left in a car parked outside a River Road apartment building, Police Chief Frank Papapietro said this afternoon.

Jerry DeMarco

08/07/2013 9:13 p.m.

“Heavy alcohol consumption was involved” when Peter Stuht left the messages at the borough administrative offices between 1 – 5 a.m. today, the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The calls pointed directly to a gold Chrysler Concord with Pennsylvania license plates that was parked behind an apartment building at 885 River Road, he said.

“If anybody tries to move it, they better get a bomb-sniffing dog first,” the caller said.

Police found the car with the keys still in the ignition and immediately summoned the Bergen County Police Department Bomb Squad.

The unit brought technicians, equipment and a bomb-sniffing dog.

Meanwhile, police sheltered children from a nearby playground into the Hovnanian school.

Rather than take a chance on opening the trunk, they used a water cannon to pop it open.

“Nothing was inside,” Papapietro said.

Meanwhile, Detective Sgt. Brian Long traced the call to Stuht, who lives in the Brookchester Apartments.

The car’s owner is another Brookchester tenant who “apparently had no idea why this happened,” Papapietro said.

Stuht was issued a summons to answer the charge of creating a false public alarm.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy NEW MILFORD PD

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