MARQUETTE, MI – (Great Lakes Radio News) – The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office is continuing the investigation into an incident last night involving a bogus phone call about a person exposed to nerve gas that put both Bell and Marquette General Hospitals into decontamination lockdown.
A call came in to Bell Hospital around 7:45 p.m. last night that a woman was bringing a 23-year-old man to the hospital from an unknown camp, who had been exposed to a World War II nerve gas. As a precaution, MGH was notified and both facilities initiated lockdowns.
After the man was not dropped off at Bell, the hospital staff contacted the Poison Control Center who in turn gave them the cell phone number of the woman who had made the original call. After she was contacted, she said the man had been dropped off at MGH, which was not the case.
Deputies say the man may have actually been exposed to fumes from a meth lab days earlier and the nerve gas story was made up to cover up any suspected meth use or involvement.
The man was eventually contacted and no medical treatment was necessary. Authorities say this was an isolated incident and was not related to any of the recent bomb threats nor was this a threat of any kind.
The case is being reviewed by the Marquette County Prosecutor.
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