BRENTWOOD - A Somersworth man has been taken into custody for allegedly calling in a bomb threat to Rockingham County Superior Court Tuesday to avoid a sentencing hearing that would have likely put him behind bars.

Jonathan Michael Long, 27, made a brief appearance in court Thursday morning for failing to appear for a plea-and-sentencing hearing earlier this week. Long turned himself in Wednesday night about an hour and a half after the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office announced they obtained an arrest warrant for him regarding the bomb threat, according to Major Al Brackett.

Charges are pending in Long's new case brought by the sheriff's department, according to Brackett.

Long, who is being held at county jail, is accused of calling 911 around 9 a.m. Tuesday and reporting a bomb was inside the courthouse. The call happened around the same time Long was due to appear before Judge Kenneth McHugh for a plea and sentencing hearing. The threat prompted dozens of people to evacuate the Brentwood courthouse as a bomb-sniffing dog spent nearly two hours in an around the building.

It's unknown whether Long could be a suspect in a similar incident that happened hours before Tuesday's bomb scare at a Walmart store in Somersworth. Somersworth police responded to the Walmart store in their town Monday night shortly after someone called 911, claiming there was an explosive inside the store. Somersworth police Capt. Russell Timmons could not be reached for comment this morning.

Long was identified as a suspect soon after he allegedly made the call Tuesday morning because his voice was familiar to a sheriff's department investigator, Brackett said.