Another bomb threat at Atwater Dole plant

The Merced County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a bomb threat at the Dole Packaged Food plant for the second Monday in a row, Sheriff Vern Warnke confirmed.

The investigation is in the early stages, but the sheriff’s office is taking precautionary measures and evacuating the plant, Warnke said.

Last Monday on Sept. 12, an unidentified man who sounded to be in his 50s called the plant about 9:45 a.m. and made a threat.

Warnke said today the situation is similar.

Though investigators don’t believe the threat is credible, law enforcement officials are sending in bomb-sniffing dogs.

“We don’t want to take any chances,” Warnke said.

The 45-acre facility at 7916 Bellevue Road employs some 700 full-time employees and about 1,400 seasonal workers, the company reported in 2013. The facility freezes and packs more than 200 million pounds of fruit each year, making it the largest fruit-freezing facility in the United States as of 2013, the company reported.

The plant has been operated by multiple companies since it opened in the 1960s, according to Sun-Star archives.

Stay with the Sun-Star for developments on this story.

This story was originally published September 19, 2016 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Another bomb threat at Atwater Dole plant."