Man is arrested after calling

in three false bomb threats

A homeless man was arrested Saturday afternoon and charged with calling in three hoax bomb threats to Evanston buildings.

Robert W. Rabuska, 58, whose last known address was in Chicago, was charged with two felony counts of disorderly conduct in the three threats, which were all called in to the Evanston Police Department 911 center Saturday, said EPD Cmdr. Michael Perry.

In the first call at 11:46 a.m., a man told police there was a bomb at the Holiday Inn, 1501 Sherman Ave. The call was traced to a pay phone near the Dempster El stop.

EPD and the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Bomb Squad responded to the call, Perry said. The hotel was evacuated while police searched the premises, but they did not find any explosives, he said.

A second bomb threat, directed at Evanston Hospital, 2650 Ridge Ave., was called in at 1:35 p.m. from a pay phone at the Davis El stop, Perry said. Police received the third call, warning of a bomb at the Main Branch of the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., at 1:41 p.m., from the same phone. Both times, the caller told police the bomb would explode at 2:10 p.m.

EPD and the Cook County bomb squad evacuated the library and searched the emergency room of the hospital, but they did not find explosives in either building. Evanston Hospital opted not to evacuate the building, Perry said.

Police apprehended the man at the 1600 block of Benson after a witness saw someone make two suspicious calls near the Davis El stop.

The man was charged with two felony counts for the three threats.

“He got two counts because (he called from) two locations,” Perry said.

The man had been treated for a heart problem at Evanston Hospital from Tuesday to Saturday, according to police reports. He checked out at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, shortly before the first bomb threat was called in to police.

Rabuska is scheduled to appear March 1 at Circuit Court in Skokie.