Backpack rendered safe after bomb threat evacuates Sacramento-area library, deputies say

Deputies arrested a man and gave the all-clear after bomb technicians determined a backpack left outside an Arden Arcade library Tuesday afternoon did not contain an explosive.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies were called just before 4:30 p.m. to the Sacramento Public Library branch at 891 Watt Ave. near Northrop Avenue when a man inside the library allegedly told an employee that he had left a “suspicious package” outside the building that contained a bomb.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi said the library was quickly evacuated as deputies called in their EOD team — short for explosive ordnance disposal — to investigate the package, a backpack that was left near the front doors.

Gandhi said deputies quickly detained a man believed to have made the threat, identified in the Main Jail log as Robert Eric Matheson, 54.

Detectives later searched the suspect’s home on the 9000 block of Harvest Way in the La Riviera section of unincorporated Sacramento County and found a “live device” and two pounds of explosive material, Gandhi said.

He was being held without bail on a parole violation and will face one felony charge of possessing a bomb in a public place.

Matheson was expected to be arraigned on Thursday.