Monessen woman charged in Westmoreland courthouse bomb threat

Renatta Signorini, Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.
Updated ·2 min read

May 30—A Monessen woman accused of threatening a Westmoreland County judge and children's bureau employees was charged Tuesday with making a bomb threat at the Greensburg courthouse.

Precious Gantt, 39, is facing two counts of terroristic threats and a single charge of bomb threats.

Westmoreland County Park Police said Gantt called the courthouse switchboard just before noon May 18 and claimed to be across the street with a bomb, threatening to blow up the North Main Street building. Streets around the courthouse were closed for nearly an hour while police searched for Gantt but did not find her, according to court papers.

Gantt called twice more over the next two hours — to the children's bureau and the sheriff's department, police said, and made threatening statements.

"Gantt frequently calls the courthouse, and her voice is easily recognized by many employees," Patrolman Christopher Fidazzo wrote in the complaint.

Gantt had been on the run from police but was captured last week in Washington, D.C., according to the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office. She was awaiting extradition and had not been arraigned in any of the Westmoreland County cases.

She is accused of threatening a Westmoreland County judge who presided over her custody case if he terminated her parental rights. That call came moments before the bomb threat, according to court papers.

In the second criminal case, Gantt is accused of leaving voicemails and making phone calls threatening to kill anyone at the children's bureau who has been involved in her supervision since 2021, according to court papers.

Gantt also is facing charges in Monessen for threatening police there, as well as charges in Allegheny County.

She was sentenced in July 2021 to 11 to 23 months in jail in connection with threats made to the Westmoreland County Emergency Operations Center in August 2020.

Investigators said she made 16 phone calls to Westmoreland 911 over a nine-hour period, sometimes yelling at the call taker and using derogatory language toward police officers.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta by email at rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .