(ABC 6 News) — According to a press release from Albert Lea Police Department, at 1:24 PM on Friday, July 5th, an Albert Lea officer attempted to stop a motor vehicle for a traffic violation on Hammer Road and Sorenson Road.  The driver failed to yield to the officer’s emergency lights and siren.

The vehicle pulled onto Paradise Road and came to a stop. The officer spoke with the driver who had a revoked driver’s license.

The driver (Adam Alan Penhollow, 48, Albert Lea) was placed under arrest for driving after revocation and fleeing in a motor vehicle. The driver was suspected of being under the influence of a controlled substance and was to be processed for this offense.

While searching the vehicle, officers located a locked gun box that was believed to contain a firearm. The driver was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition. A search warrant was executed on the locked gun box at the Law Enforcement Center.

Officer gained entry to the box and located a bag of suspected controlled substance and what appeared to be a pipe bomb.

As a result of the pipe bomb, the Freeborn County Government Center was evacuated of all non-essential personnel. St. Paul Police Bomb Squad then arrived and took possession of the device.

A subsequent search warrant was served on the arrested party’s residence. Penhollow was being held on the following charges:

• Possession of an explosive device
• Flee in a motor vehicle
• 5th Degree possession of methamphetamine
• 2nd Degree DUI-Test Refusal
• Felon in possession of firearms & ammunition
• Driving After Revocation

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(ABC 6 News) — The potential explosive device has been removed from Freeborn County Courthouse.

As of about 6:25 pm, the St Paul Bomb Squad arrived and were able to remove the device from the building.

At about 6:45 pm employees were able to return inside the building, and by 7:05 pm, Dispatch was back up and running in the building. They had previously been moved off-site and 911 calls were routed to Mower County.

The building is now open again for regular use. It remains unknown exactly what the device is at this time.

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(ABC 6 News) – The Freeborn County Courthouse has been evacuated after Albert Lea police brought what could be an explosive device into the Government Center, along with other seized evidence.

At about 5 p.m., Albert Lea law enforcement said a bomb squad was about “an hour out.”

According to Freeborn County sheriff Ryan Shea, police allegedly underwent a car chase and related search of earlier in the day.

An Albert Lea man was arrested on traffic charges, he said.

Shea said when police opened a lock box seized from the man’s car, they noticed an item that appeared like a “pipe bomb.”

In the interest of caution, law enforcement left the item where it was, evacuated the building, and called explosives experts from the Twin Cities to come to Albert Lea, Shea said.

As of 4 p.m., the courthouse parking lot had been blocked off by squad cars.

ABC 6 News first learned that individuals were being told to exit the courthouse around 3:20 p.m.