Police: Columbia Man Made Bomb Threats at Burger King, Harassed Church

A Howard County man who said he was an FBI agent, a congressman, an attorney and a law enforcement officer is facing charges of harassment for allegedly making bomb threats to a Columbia Burger King, a church in Ellicott City and a church in California, according to Howard County Police. 

Forrest Reid Dimond, 53, of Circling Hunter Street in Columbia, is charged with calling the Burger King on Center Park Drive in Columbia on Nov. 6 and, using a “foreign sounding accent,” said there was “a bomb in the restaurant and the police will surround the building in eight minutes.” 

The manager at the restaurant told police that the voice sounded like a man named "Forest" who frequented the restaurant, according to police. 

On Nov. 9, according to police documents, Burger King received another threat of “a bomb within the establishment.” All businesses in the building were evacuated. No bomb was found. Two days later, according to the report, the restaurant received a call in which the caller simply said “Allah Akbar,” and hung up. 

Police linked a phone number to the threatening calls and, according to the report, found that the number had also been used to make a bomb threat to the Calvary Chapel church in Santa Ana, Calif. According to charging documents, the caller left a voice mail saying there was a bomb in the church in the name of Allah.

People at the church told police that they thought the caller was Forrest Dimond, and that he had been harassing them for about a year, saying at times that he was a member of the FBI, that he was in law enforcement, that he was a congressman and that he was an attorney, “representing Forrest Dimond." 

Police said telephone records indicated Dimond had called the California church 60 times between Nov. 3 and Nov. 13, 2012.

A pastor at a local branch of the Calvary Chapel church, which meets in Laurel and Ellicott City, told police in a harassment complaint that Dimond had attended services in Laurel, but in the past year he had become upset with certain aspects of the church. The pastor said Dimond was harassing the local church with threatening voicemails and emails, and also harassing headquarters – the California branch.

The pastor told police that Dimond had left voice mail messages saying he was an FBI agent with an arrest warrant or that he simply shouted “Allah Akbar” and hung up. 

Police have not indicated why the Burger King received threatening calls.

Dimond was indicted last week and faces three counts of making a false statement about a destructive device, one count of telephone misuse and two counts of harassment. All together, the charges carry more than 34 years of jail time and more than $31,000 in fines.