Updated at 3:55 p.m. Thursday

Police arrested a 38-year-old man on Wednesday after he allegedly threatened an employee of a southern Lawrence restaurant with a machete.

The man, Larry L. Morgan, of Lawrence, was formally charged Thursday in Douglas County District Court with one count of aggravated assault, a level-seven felony.

Police arrested Morgan around 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to the jail booking log.

Lt. David Ernst of the Lawrence Police Department said officers were dispatched to Culver’s, 2111 W. 33rd St., for a report that a man was armed with a machete at the restaurant.

An employee told the officers that Morgan was soliciting money from customers in the drive-thru. When an employee asked Morgan to leave, he allegedly pulled out the machete. The employee went back inside the restaurant and called the police.

Officers located Morgan nearby and arrested him, Ernst said.

After he was charged on Thursday, Morgan said he had just gotten “a new knife” — before Judge James T. George cut him off from talking about the details of the case.

A prosecutor for the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office said Morgan had warrants out for his arrest for missing Lawrence Municipal Court hearings in four separate cases. Morgan also has an ongoing criminal case in Johnson County, and he had been flagged as a “community safety risk,” the prosecutor said.

Morgan said he had taken a plea deal in that case. According to Johnson County court records, Morgan was found guilty of criminal threat in July. He was originally charged with aggravated assault, the records show.

George set a $5,000 cash or surety bond and scheduled Morgan’s next hearing for Oct. 13

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office declined to provide the Journal-World with Morgan’s booking photo.