Folsom's Sutter Street Evacuated After Man Threatens Police

FOLSOM (CBS13) — Holiday shoppers on Sutter Street in historic downtown Folsom were forced to evacuate the area Monday after a transient made terrorist threats toward officers, police said.

The incident began at 11:30 a.m. when the owner of a business on Sutter Street called the Folsom Police Department for help regarding a transient who had set up camp under her business. The business owner said the man, identified as 50-year-old James Saporito, was banging on the floor and yelling up at her customers from underneath the building.

When officers tried to coax the man out, he reportedly told them he had propane, gasoline and dynamite. In later conversations with negotiators, the man said he also had firearms, police said.

Saporito surrendered at about 1 p.m. as a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department K-9 team went in for him underneath the structure. The investigation revealed no damage to the building, and no one, including Saporito, was injured.

Saporito did have an empty propane cooker among his belongings but nothing else to execute his threats, police said.

Saporito was charged with making terroristic threats and booked into the Sacramento County Jail.