Police: Former ASU professor threatened to blow up the Liberty Bell

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Police on Saturday arrested a former Arizona State University professor for allegedly threatening to blow up the Liberty Bell.

Police said Carlos Balsas, 41, entered the Liberty Bell Center on the 500 block of Chestnut Street shortly after 10 a.m. As a security guard checked his bag, Balsas said, “I have explosives in there,” and left the building, according to investigators.

U.S. Park Rangers later saw Balsas walking near 7th and Market streets and took him into custody following a brief struggle.

Police found two black backpacks in front of Liberty Wheels at 700 Market Street, but the bomb squad cleared the scene and recovered no explosives.

Balsas, formerly a School of Planning professor at Arizona State University, according to online records, was arraigned yesterday. He is charged with terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, possessing an instrument of crime and sounding a false alarm to a public safety agency.

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