Simpson Charged with Carrying Hoax Device in Boston

Star Simpson was charged with possessing a hoax device today at Logan International Airport in Boston for wearing a sweatshirt that had a circuit board affixed to the front with green LED lights and wires running to a 9-volt battery.^[1] Authorities thought the contraption was a bomb strapped to her body.^[2]

Simpson was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and approached an airport employee in Terminal C at 8 a.m. to inquire about an incoming flight from Oakland, according to Major Scott Pare of the State Police.^[3] Affixed to the front of her black sweatshirt was a pale beige circuit board with green LED lights and wires running to a 9-volt battery.^[4] Written on the back of the sweatshirt in what appeared to be gold magic marker was the phrase "socket to me" and below that was written "Course VI," which refers to the electrical engineering and computer science program at MIT.^[5]

She was allegedly holding a lump of what looked like putty in her hands; the employee asked about the plastic circuit board on her chest, and Simpson walked away without responding. Outside the terminal, Simpson was surrounded by police holding machine guns.^[6]

"She was immediately told to stop, to raise her hands, and not make any movement so we could observe all her movements to see if she was trying to trip any type of device…..there was obviously a concern that had she not followed the protocol ... we may have used deadly force……Thankfully because she followed our instructions, she ended up in our cell instead of a morgue…..Again, this is a serious offense ... I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport," Pare said.^[7]

Simpson was arrested, and it was quickly determined that the device was harmless. "She said it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day…she was holding what was later found to be playdough," Pare said.^[8]

Simpson was charged with possessing a hoax device and was arraigned today East Boston Municipal Court. She was held on $750 cash bail and ordered to return to court Oct. 29.^[9]

The hoax statute was introduced after September 11 and the subsequent anthrax scares. The law makes it a crime to engage in any conduct with intent to convey false or misleading information under circumstances where such information may reasonably be believed and where such information indicates that an activity has taken, is taking, or will take place that would constitute a terrorist attack, or any of the crimes enumerated in the statue.^[10]

The statute was amended by the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2006, which was introduced on September 6, 2006. It expanded the statute to include hoaxes related to the taking of hostages in order to coerce the federal government^[11] hoaxes related to blowing up an energy facility^[12] hoaxes related to terrorist attacks on military bases aimed at undermining national defense,^[13] and hoaxes related to terrorist attacks on railways and mass-transportation facilities,^[14] such as the recent London bombings.^[15] Further amendments to this section would also increase the penalties for hoaxes about the death, injury, or capture of a U.S. soldier during wartime.^[16]

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^[1] Anna Badkhen, Michael Levenson, and Andrew Ryan, MIT student arrested at Logan in bomb scare, Boston Globe, September 21, 2007, available at http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/mit_student_arr.html (last visited September 24, 2007).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] Id.
^[10] 18 U.S.C. §1038 (2001).
^[11] 18 U.S.C. §1203 (2006).
^[12] 18 U.S.C. §1366(a) (2006).
^[13] 18 U.S.C. §2156 (2006).
^[14] 18 U.S.C. §1992-1993 (2006).
^[15] S. 3848, 109th Cong. § 2 (2006).
^[16] Id.

Student uses Powdered Sugar in Anthrax Threat

Sujithkumar Venkatramolla, a graduate student from India, made bomb and anthrax threats which shutdown the University of Missouri-Rolla.^[1] Venkatramolla was arrested on campus early Tuesday, February 27, after he walked into a civil engineering building wielding a knife, holding paper bag and saying he had a bomb and anthrax.^[2] Police ultimately restrained him with a stun gun after he refused to relinquish the knife. According to Police Chief Mark Kearse, Venkatramolla was depressed and apparently distraught over grades.^[3]

The bomb and anthrax threats were determined to be a hoax, and a thorough search of the building found no trace of explosives.^[4] The white, powdery substance found on the man was simply powdered sugar, said Lt. Col. David Boyle of the Missouri National Guard at Fort Leonard Wood.^[5]

Venkatramolla was charged in the state of Missouri, Wednesday, February 28, with armed criminal action, resisting arrest, false report of a bomb threat, making terrorist threats, and first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer.^[6]

In Missouri a person commits the crime of making a terrorist threat if that person communicates a threat to cause an incident or condition involving danger to life, communicates a knowingly false report of an incident or condition involving danger to life, or knowingly causes a false belief or fear that an incident has occurred or that a condition exists involving danger to life: 1) With the purpose of frightening ten or more people; 2) With the purpose of causing the evacuation, quarantine or closure of any portion of a building, inhabitable structure, place of assembly or facility of transportation; or 3) With reckless disregard of the risk of causing the evacuation, quarantine or closure of any portion of a building, inhabitable structure, place of assembly or facility of transportation; or 4) With criminal negligence with regard to the risk of causing the evacuation, quarantine or closure of any portion of a building, inhabitable structure, place of assembly or facility of transportation.^[7]

Terrorist threat is also very similar to the United States Federal crime of “false information and hoaxes,”^[8] which have been previously discussed here.

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^[1] Jim Salter, Graduate student charged with terrorist threats in anthrax, bomb scare at Missouri university, AP (via Boston Herald), February 28, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Mo. Rev. Stat. § 574.115 (2007).
^[8] 18 U.S.C. §1038 (2007).

Aqua Teen Bomb Scare: Update

Turner Broadcasting Systems and Interference Inc. (Turner Broadcasting) have made an agreement with the City of Boston to pay $2 million for an advertising campaign that caused a widespread bomb scare.^[1] We discussed this earlier last week.

According to Attorney General Martha Coakley, the agreement was made with several state and local agencies, and it resolves any potential civil or criminal claims that could have been charged against the companies.^[2] More than three dozen blinking electronic signs were found Wednesday, January 31, in the greater Boston area, where bomb squads responded to reports of the devices in a subway station, on bridges and elsewhere.^[3]

As part of the settlement, $1 million will be used to reimburse the agencies and $1 million will be used to fund homeland security and other programs. Turner Broadcasting, also will issue a public statement accepting complete responsibility and apologizing for the incident.^[4] ''We understand now that in today's post-Sept. 11 environment, it was reasonable and appropriate for citizens and law enforcement officials to take any perceived threat posed by our light boards very seriously and to respond as they did,'' the statement said.^[5]

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^[1] Glen Johnson, Turner Broadcasting to Pay $2 mil. Over Ad Scare, AP (via CNN), February 5, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.

Cartoonish Signs Cause Terror Scare in Boston

On Wednesday, January 31, Boston authorities shut down bridges and a stretch of the Charles River, amid stirred fears of terrorism.^[1] Two men, who authorities say placed bomb-like electronic advertising devices around the city, were released from jail Thursday.^[2] Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, were released on $2,500 cash bond after each pleaded not guilty to placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct for a device found Wednesday at a subway station. ^[3] The two men were video-taped dispersing the devices throughout Boston.

Officials found 38 blinking electronic signs on bridges and other high-profile spots across the city Wednesday, prompting the closing of a highway and the deployment of bomb squads. The electronic signs were part of a rebel marketing campaign to promote the late-night cartoon show Aqua Teen Hunger Force.^[4] The signs, depict the cartoon "moon men,” or "Mooninites" who are delinquent outer-space men who make frequent appearances on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.^[5] The surreal series is about the adventures of a talking milkshake, a box of French fries and a meatball.^[6]

Judge Paul K. Leary said the suspects must intend to create a panic to be charged with placing hoax devices, and it appears the suspects had no such intent, however the question will be discussed in a later hearing.^[7] Assistant Attorney General John Grossman disagreed, saying, “[i]t’s clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location.”^[8] The 1-foot tall signs, which were lit up at night, resembled a circuit board, with protruding wires and batteries. Most of the signs depicted a boxy, pixilated, cartoon character who was giving passersby the finger — a much more obvious sight when seen after dark.^[9]

“The appearance of this device and its location are crucial…… [t]his device looks like a bomb,” asserted Grossman, about the mechanism found at Sullivan Station underneath Interstate 93, which he said looked like it was a C-4 explosive.^[10] Other observers weren’t so sure, "[i]t's so not threatening (sic) -- it's a Lite Brite," said Todd Venderlin, a design student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.^[11] It appears Venderlin is in the majority, the devices have been in place for two or three weeks in Boston; New York City; Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.^[12] Most of these cities have removed the signs with no fuss whatsoever, only in Boston, did the light boards create such mass hysteria.^[13]

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^[1] Jay Lindsay, 2 Men Held Over Boston Scare Released on Bond, AP (MSNBC.com), February 01, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id
^[5] Id.
^[6] Dan Lothian, et al, Two plead not guilty to Boston hoax charges ,CNN, February 01, 2007.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id
^[9] Id.
^[10] Lindsay, supra note 1.
^[11] Lothain, supra note 5
^[12] Id.