Downtown Upper Marlboro was evacuated for nearly two hours yesterday after an anonymous caller said a bomb would explode at 11:45 a.m. near the county courthouse.
The courthouse was closed, and hundreds of people were ordered to leave offices, shops and restaurants along a nearly half-mile stretch on Main Street. Sheriff's investigators traced one of several telephoned threats to a phone booth at Water and Main streets.
The booth was closely guarded and dusted for fingerprints. A black Labrador and a bloodhound trained in bomb-sniffing were led through the courthouse and along Main Street, but no bomb was found.
Authorities were seeking an unidentified man who witnesses said placed a call at the booth about 9 a.m., when as many as three threats were phoned in to 911 operators and a Washington television station, Prince George's County Sheriff James V. Aluisi said.
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The episode came as authorities across the area are noticing an increase in bomb scares and a heightened anxiety about terrorism.
A 62-year-old District man was arrested Thursday in connection with suspicious packages that twice forced the evacuation of the State House in Annapolis. An office building in Bethesda was evacuated and part of Wisconsin Avenue was closed for two hours in late July after a caller told Montgomery County police that he had planted a bomb in the building.
Police in Virginia and Maryland said yesterday that there had been a recent increase in the number of reports of suspicious packages, which they tied to concern in the wake of the bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta, the mysterious downing of TWA Flight 800, the publicity over the Unabomber and the Oklahoma City bombing.
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"A lot of it is today's society," said Cpl. George Ludington, a Montgomery County police spokesman. "People are being more observant and sensitive to the issue."
"Most calls are from people who were not expecting packages," said Lucy Caldwell, a Virginia State Police spokeswoman. "They would rather take the safe route and call us."
The evacuation of Upper Marlboro left haircuts incomplete in barbershops, meals half eaten in restaurants and couples unmarried outside the courthouse.
"We were the next in line, and then they evacuated the building," said bride Trudell Ford, 25, of Brandywine, after being married at last to Otis Ford, 26, about two hours later than planned.
Circuit Court Administrative Judge Graydon S. McKee III said most judges were able to recover from the disruption and complete nearly every case on their dockets. Staff writers Brian Mooar and Patti Davis contributed to this report.
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