Last Friday, Missoula police responded to a concerned citizen's report of what appeared to be some sort of bomb with exposed wires in downtown Missoula at around 7:30 P.M. Police ended-up blocking off the 200 block of Higgins and called in some expert help.

"The explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team was activated and they responded to x-ray the object," said Missoula Police Public Information officer Travis Welsh. "While that was going on, a male approached an officer on the perimeter and asked if all of this attention was because of the rice cooker that he had  apparently left sitting outside of a business. He explained that he had been in this business earlier and that he had a rice cooker and had left it outside."

The man who left the rice cooker was 35 year old Matthew Dikes, who is now in the Missoula County Jail, on charges that have mostly nothing to do with where he left his kitchenware.

"He confirmed that it was just a rice cooker, however, when asked for his name, he gave a false name," Welsh said. "Officers eventually learned that he had outstanding felony warrants for his arrest out of another jurisdiction and he was taken into custody. The EOD team did x-ray the object and determined that it was indeed empty and, in fact, it turned out to be a rice cooker."

On top of the felony warrants, Dikes faces an added charge of Obstructing a Peace Officer for giving a false name, but there appear to be no charges directly related to the rice cooker incident... not even a citation for littering.

Photo courtesy of NBC Montana
Photo courtesy of NBC Montana
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