ELIZABETHTOWN, NC — A registered sex offender awaiting trial on minor sex exploitation charges is behind bars under a $2 million bond after state and local investigators tracked an email threatening to blow up the Bladen County Courthouse back to his residence.
Deputies with the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office arrested William Bryan Clark, 44, of 303 Glenwood Drive, Elizabethtown, on a single felony charge of Making a False Bomb Threat (communicating a false report concerning a public building).
Clark was initially held without bond following his arrest. However, during his first appearance in Superior Court, a judge formally set his secured bond at $2 million.
Courthouse Bomb Threat & SBI Investigation
The investigation began when staff at the District Attorney’s Office in Elizabethtown received an email threatening to “blow up” the Bladen County Courthouse. DA officials immediately notified the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office, which launched a joint investigation alongside the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
Agents with the SBI traced the IP address attached to the email directly to Clark’s residence on Glenwood Drive in Elizabethtown. Sheriff’s deputies executed an arrest warrant at the location, taking Clark into custody without incident.
Pending Charges and Legal History
At the time of his arrest for the courthouse bomb threat, Clark was out on bond awaiting trial on multiple felony offenses.
In December 2025, Clark was formally indicted by a Bladen County grand jury on charges of Second-Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Third-Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, and Disseminating Obscene Material to a Minor.
Clark has a multi-year history of child sex crime allegations and convictions in North Carolina:
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2018 Conviction: Clark was convicted of Indecent Liberties with a Minor and is listed as a registered sex offender on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry.
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2022 Arrest: In May 2022, Clark was arrested after allegedly attempting to solicit 13- and 14-year-old minors via Instagram. He was charged with two felony counts of Solicitation of a Child by Computer, Disseminating Harmful Material to Minors, and a felony probation violation, placed under a $500,000 bond at the time.
Clark remains in custody at the Bladen County Detention Center under the $2 million secured bond as court proceedings move forward.
All individuals named in this report are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Charges and case statuses may change as investigations and court proceedings continue.
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