Lending a phone may seem a simple act of kindness, but it led to a lot of trouble over the weekend at Potomac Mills Mall in Virginia, according to a Prince William County police account of a bomb threat there.

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       Officers went to the giant shopping and entertainment center in Woodbridge, Va., about 6:45 p.m. Saturday after a bomb threat was phoned in to the county’s 911 center, police said.

       During a search, an apparently suspicious item was found near the food court area, police said. They said patrons were evacuated from the vicinity until officers and a state police bomb squad determined that the item presented no threat.

       A search of the rest of the mall found nothing suspicious, according to police.

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       The investigation indicates that the phone used for the call came from a mall employee, police said. A youth had approached the employee and asked to make a call, according to police, adding that the call turned out to be the bomb threat.

       The employee did not know the phone had been misused and was found to be uninvolved in the threat, according to a police account released Monday.

       A 14-year-old boy was taken into custody and charged with “threats to bomb,” police said in a statement.