Cafeteria Worker Arrested for Threats at Courthouse

A cook’s assistant at the Orange County Courthouse cafeteria has been arrested on suspicion of making phony bomb threats to the restaurant, authorities said.

Sosaia P. Taumoefolau, 19, of Garden Grove, was arrested after he admitted using a telephone at the courthouse to make the threats, marshal’s Capt. Tom Twellman said Saturday.

The threats began in the wake of the deadly explosion last month at the federal building in Oklahoma City, the spokesman said.

Taumoefolau was being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Twellman credited marshal’s Sgt. Steve Harding and investigator Ken Hayes with the work leading to the arrest of Taumoefolau on Thursday.

“The calls had come in sporadically since the Oklahoma bombing,” Twellman said. The investigators “were able to identify the phone that was used and establish the person who was using the phone.”

Taumoefolau admitted in an interview with investigators that he had made the calls to Craig’s Cafeteria, a privately operated facility on the third floor of the courthouse, the spokesman said.

“The target was not the courthouse, but the private company,” Twellman said. “I do believe that it was work-related and not politically motivated.”