A Michigan man has been arrested for calling in a fake bomb threat at an airport in Detroit so he wouldn’t miss his flight to Los Angeles.
John Charles Robinson, 23, allegedly called Spirit Airlines shortly before 6:30 a.m. Thursday to report “false information about a bomb threat to Flight 2145,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The Spirit flight, on which Robinson was booked, was scheduled to depart Detroit Metropolitan Airport at 7 a.m., but Robinson was running late. Prosecutors allege he called in the hoax in hopes of delaying the flight so he could still make it.
“I was calling about 2145 … because I have information about that flight,” he told a Spirit Airlines representative, according to an FBI arrest affidavit. “There’s gonna be someone who’s gonna try to blow up the airport … someone that’s gonna try to blow up that flight.”
Robinson also described the person he claimed would carry out the attack, saying the individual would pass through TSA with a bomb.
“They’re still threatening to do it, they’re still [attempting] to do it, they said it’s not going to be able to be detected,” Robinson allegedly said. “ Please don’t let that flight board.”
Officials immediately canceled the flight and deplaned all passengers and crew, who were interviewed and screened again. FBI agents and bomb-sniffing dogs then swept the aircraft for explosives, but nothing was found.
The flight only departed about six hours later.
According to the authorities, Robinson “stated that he made the call with the hope that it would delay the flight long enough for him to make it in time so he would not have to take a different flight.”
His plan didn’t work and Robinson returned to the airport Thursday night — when he was arrested by the FBI.
Robinson was charged with maliciously providing false information about an explosive and appeared in Detroit federal court on Friday afternoon. He was released on bond and is due back in court on June 27.
With News Wire Services
