ST. CLAIRSVILLE – Holloway Mayor Joseph Schaeffer was arrested on Thursday evening after threatening to blow up the Belmont County Courthouse.

Schaeffer was elected in the 2023 election and took office Jan. 1, 2024, defeating John F. Sheppard 43-38. Schaeffer allegedly called the auditor’s office at the Belmont County Courthouse on Thursday morning about the recent property tax increase and, during that conversation, allegedly said he was going to bring a bomb to the courthouse.

Belmont County Sheriff James Zusack said he takes any type of threat seriously, but especially in the case of a threat to the courthouse.

“We took immediate action and got a hold of the prosecutor’s office, and they expedited everything for us to be able to make the arrest,” Zusack said. “As far as making threats, in Belmont County we’re not going to tolerate it. That’s why it was done so fast.”

Schaeffer was charged with inducing panic and aggravated menacing, both misdemeanors with a bond of $1,000 each, resulting in his bond amount being $2,000.

“Was he running his mouth and being an idiot?” Zusack said. “Yes, but you don’t make threats to cause any type of harm to anything. That’s where he got himself in a tizzy.”

Belmont County Board of Commissioners President J.P. Dutton agreed that such threats must be taken seriously.

“It’s very disappointing,” he said. “I fully understand the outrage about the property taxes, but things like this are taken very seriously.”