PORT NECHES, Texas — Jefferson County deputies are working with the FBI and ATF to determine who left a hoax explosive device inside a mailbox just outside a Southeast Texas plant.
An Air Liquide employee checking the mailbox at about 6:30 a.m. Friday morning found the device behind several pieces of mail at the back of the box according to Capt. Crystal Homes of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
The mailbox, used by the postal service and accessible to the public, is outside the Air Liquide facility in the 2100 block of Park Drive in Port Neches.
The device was a bag that was about six inches wide and about eight to 10 inches long Holmes said during a news conference early Friday afternoon.
The clear bag had "objects" placed in the bag and appeared to contain wires she said.
Whoever made the device designed it so that it would be alarming to someone Holmes said.
The employee immediately contacted police who responded and blocked off the immediate area. Industry employees are trained to look out for suspicious packages Holmes said.
Authorities sealed off the immediate area and brought in a bomb sniffing K9 from the Beaumont Independent School District Police Department.
The dog did not detect any explosives when checking the mailbox according to Holmes.
Carolyn Bewell works at the Effie and Wilton Herbert Library in Port Neches, which is nearby the Liquide plant.
When she heard about the mysterious package, it bought back grim memories.
"It just made us both the patron and myself a little nervous after what we went through with TPC explosion," Bewell said.
A bomb squad team from the Baytown and Pasadena Police Departments responded and removed the device using a robot.
"It did appear at first glance to be an explosive device. The device was checked by the bay area regional bomb squad and found not to be an explosive," Holmes said.
The device was confirmed by the bomb squad to be inert and is being checked for fingerprints, DNA and anything else that might give a clue as to who is responsible for it.
The FBI and ATF, along with deputies, are continuing to investigate to see who may have left the package in the mailbox that was not checked on Thursday.
Multiple agencies, including the Port Neches Police and Fire Departments, the Bay Area Bomb Squad from Baytown and Pasadena, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the BISD police with a K9, responded to the incident.
While no one was hurt today, authorities say they can never be too careful.
"This device was a hoax, but we can never ever let our guard down," Holmes said.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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