POCATELLO — A 44-year-old local man was recently arrested after police say he falsely claimed to have a bomb while involved in a dispute at a Pocatello bar.

Bret Vernon Kynaston, of Pocatello, has been charged with one count of felony false reports of explosives following a Pocatello police investigation that unfolded in the early morning hours of March 14, according to police and court records the Idaho State Journal recently obtained.

The incident began around 12:30 a.m. when multiple officers responded to the area near the Bourbon Barrel Bar, located at 238 W. Clark St., after receiving a report of a man, later identified as Kynaston, walking out of the establishment with a bomb, police said.

Officers located Kynaston approximately one block north of the bar, according to the report.

Kynaston agreed to speak with the officers, telling them that while inside the bar he had gotten into a verbal altercation with two men and a woman who accused him of smoking a marijuana vape pen, which he denied, according to the report.

Kynaston told officers that while in the bathroom he encountered one of the individuals from the argument and placed his hand in his jacket pocket, rolled it into a fist to make it appear as though he was concealing something, stuck out the end of a cigarette and said, "I have a bomb," police said.

Witnesses inside the bar told officers they observed an object roughly the size of a hand, wrapped in black tape, with what appeared to be a fuse protruding from it, according to the report. Following a search of the surrounding parking lot, nearby vehicles, garbage cans and dumpsters, officers did not locate any physical evidence of an explosive device, police said.

Kynaston maintained to officers that he never possessed an actual device, saying that when a group of five or six people approached him aggressively he said, "If I had a bomb, I'd (expletive) you guys up," and that he was only holding a pack of cigarettes with a broken cigarette sticking out, according to the report.

Officers consulted with an on-call prosecutor at the scene before proceeding with the arrest, and the prosecutor determined that the elements of the crime of a false report of explosives had been met, police said.

Kynaston was arrested and transported to the Bannock County Jail in Pocatello.

He appeared in front of 6th District Judge David A Hooste for an arraignment hearing on March 16 where his bond was set at $2,500. He posted the bond on March 17 and was released from jail.

Kynaston is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors will attempt to present sufficient evidence to elevate the case from magistrate to district court for trial.

If convicted of the felony charge, Kynaston faces up to five years in prison.