By Beth Heinen and Christian Bell

Assistant News Editor and News Editor

On Saturday, Grand Rapids police arrested a suspect in connection with the phone threat that evacuated campus on Thursday and Friday.

Marvin Odell Hawkins is 22 and has an extensive criminal record. Currently, he is being held in the Kent County Jail on a $100,000 bond. The price was set this high in order to keep him in the jail until further action is taken. He was charged with making a false bomb threat and was arraigned Monday. If convicted, he could be facing up to four years in prison.

Hawkins is not a Calvin student, and although it was not immediately clear whether he had any other connections to the college, it is not suspected that he did.

``We all believed it was not a student,'' said Vice President for Student Life Shirley Hoogstra. ``We did not ever think it was a student hoax.''

Because the threat was made in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, and because an evacuation of thousands was necessary, local FBI personnel are considering federal charges against Hawkins.

A member of the Alumni and Public Relations office discovered the voice mail threat, which was left Wednesday night, around 8 a.m. on Thursday morning. Initially deterred by a blocked caller ID number, detectives were eventually able to trace the call to a stolen cell phone, according to Hoogstra. They then tracked other calls from that phone, which led them to Hawkins and the arrest on Saturday.

``This person had made phone calls both before and after our call, so it's fairly certain that he is the person,'' said Hoogstra. ``Like in a computer, just because you make a phone call, it doesn't go away; there's a record. The Grand Rapids Police were all over it. They really got the job done.''

The nature of the message was described to students only as ``a threat to the campus.'' While the word ``bomb'' was never used, the threatening call warned of fire and violent acts to be carried out on campus within 42 hours. As a precautionary message, the campus was extensively checked for any kind of explosive material.

One thing that remains unclear is Hawkins' motivation for calling in the threat. Some detectives are investigating the possibility that he has a friend who is a student at Calvin, but have not yet come to any conclusions.

According to court records, Hawkins has had run-ins with GR Police 25 times in the last 12 years, although not all were arrests. His juvenile record is extensive, including auto theft, breaking and entering, and an unspecified weapons charge. In 1997 he was put on four months probation for carrying a concealed weapon, and then received 8 months in jail for violation the probation. His most recent offense was in 1998, when he was arrested for selling and delivering cocaine. He served 18 months in prison at that time.

Although there was no damage to the campus, Vice President for Administration, Finance, and Information Services Henry DeVries estimated that the closing of the campus still cost Calvin $250,000, most of which is labor for salaried employees.

``The reality is the majority of our cost to operate this place is personnel,'' DeVries said. ``Our major resource is people.''

There were also costs associated with keeping additional Campus Safety officers on duty during Friday. The administration has not yet decided if they will demand compensation from the courts if Hawkins is convicted.

The administration initially did not release any information to the students about the arrest or the suspect, citing the sensitivity of the investigation.

``The most important thing was that the person be caught,'' said Hoogstra. ``Even if we had to sacrifice for a short time giving people specifics, no harm was done.''

``If we hadn't caught the guy, then the big fear of closing the campus is that you just encourage people to do it again,'' said Vice President for External Relations Tom McWhertor. ``Having caught the guy I think that closes the book on that.''

-The Grand Rapids Press contributed to this story.