The Baxter Police Department Thursday identified the postal worker who was arrested for having a hand grenade in his possession as 56-year-old Robert John Menth of Brainerd.
Menth is in custody at the Crow Wing County Jail in Brainerd and is awaiting formal charges of felony terroristic threats and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Menth was arrested Wednesday afternoon after allegedly making terroristic threats at the Post Office Annex on College Road in Baxter and for having a hand grenade with him while he was on his mail route.
Baxter police were informed shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday that Menth made a terroristic threat at the Baxter Postal Annex that morning. Police investigated and learned there was a significant threat.
Menth was on his mail route south of Brainerd in his sports utility vehicle, when authorities located him around 3:30 p.m. on Minnesota Highway 25, south of Thompson Road in Brainerd. Police said Menth admitted to a Baxter officer that he did possess a grenade, but it was a "dummy" and was in his SUV. The man was detained and the highway was closed for the public's safety, while the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office bomb squad worked on defusing the grenade device.
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Sheriff deputies blocked the highway in both directions, while the bomb squad worked on the grenade. Police said the bomb squad spent 90 minutes after the SUV was stopped when they learned it was a real, inert military grenade, which means it lacked the explosive components to make it detonate.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5851. Follow me at www.twitter.com/jennewsgirl on Twitter.
