A rural Mountain Home man, accused of making multiple threatening calls to a news anchor at CNN in Atlanta, made his first appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday. Thirty-nine-year-old Benjamin Craig Matthews is charged with five felonies and 13 misdemeanors. His bond is set at $15,000 in connection with those calls. He was ordered to reappear November 15th to formally enter his plea to the charges against him. The Baxter County Sheriff’s Office worked with the Atlanta Police Department in tracking Matthews to this area. Information gathered by Atlanta police showed the calls were made from a cellphone registered to Matthews. Audio recordings of the calls indicated all of them were made from the same person.. Phone records also showed Matthews had made calls to others, including Planned Parenthood, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and U.S. Representative Maxine Waters.
