Billings man faces bomb threat charges

MISSOULA — A Billings man is charged with threatening to bomb federal courthouses in Missoula and Billings over what he said was an unpaid debt.

Prosecutors say Michael Lewis Andrews used an alias Wednesday when he called the KPAX-TV station in Missoula three times and told reporters he was going to bomb the federal courthouses if an acquaintance didn’t pay him the $692 he owes him.

He told reporters to call the FBI, which they did. Prosecutors say Andrews also twice called the FBI from pay phones in downtown Missoula making the same threats. He was arrested.

Andrews appeared in U.S. District Court Thursday on two felony charges related to the alleged threats. U.S. Magistrate Jeremiah Lynch ordered Andrews be held in custody.