Peruvian National Arrested In Peru For Sending Over 150 Hoax Bomb Threats To Schools And Other Insti

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York

Peruvian National Arrested In Peru For Sending Over 150 Hoax Bomb Threats To Schools And Other Institutions In The United States And Soliciting Child Pornography

Thursday, September 28, 2023
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York

Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos Allegedly Sent Hoax Bomb Threats to Numerous Schools, Synagogues, Airports, and Hospitals Across Five States, Causing Massive Disruptions, and Attempted to Produce and Receive Child Pornography

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the unsealing of a Complaint charging EDDIE MANUEL NUNEZ SANTOS, a/k/a “Lucas,” with making hoax bomb threats to more than 150 school districts, synagogues, airports, hospitals, and a shopping mall between September 15 and September 21, 2023. The threats spanned multiple states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona, and Alaska, and resulted in massive disruptions to the targeted communities, including evacuations of thousands of schoolchildren, a lockdown of a hospital, and flight delays. NUNEZ SANTOS is also charged with attempting to induce a 15-year-old girl to take and send him nude and sexually explicit photographs, and he allegedly sent the bomb threats in retaliation against her and other minors after they refused his requests for child pornography. NUNEZ SANTOS, a Peruvian national, was arrested on September 26, 2023, by Peruvian authorities in Lima, Peru, based on the charges in the Complaint.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, the defendant’s relentless campaign of false bomb threats caused an immediate mobilization by federal and state authorities, diverting critical law enforcement and public safety resources, and caused fear in hundreds of communities across this country. The defendant allegedly engaged in this reprehensible and socially destructive conduct in a twisted attempt to retaliate against teenage girls who refused his requests for nude and sexually explicit photographs. The charges unsealed today show that those who engage in such conduct, wreaking havoc on our communities, will not find safe haven merely because they do it from outside our borders. Working together with our law enforcement partners, we will find you, and we will prosecute you.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said: “Not only did Santos allegedly email hundreds of hoax bomb threats terrorizing schools, hospitals, and houses of worship, he also perversely tried to sextort innocent teenage girls. His actions wasted limited law enforcement resources, put first responders in unnecessary danger, and victimized children. The FBI will not tolerate anyone who seeks to induce fear in our communities, and we will do whatever it takes to put the perpetrators of such actions behind bars, regardless of their location.”

As alleged in the Complaint filed in Manhattan federal court:

On September 15, 2023, the FBI began receiving reports of bomb threats, sent primarily via email or online contact forms, to various institutions located across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona, and Alaska. Through its investigation, including the examination of email, phone, and Internet Protocol (“IP”) address data, the FBI was able to determine that NUNEZ SANTOS, a 33-year-old Peruvian national residing in Lima, was responsible for sending the threats. The threats sent by NUNEZ SANTOS all contained substantially similar content and targeted schools, synagogues, airports, hospitals, and a shopping mall.

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Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/peruvian-national-arrested-peru-sending-over-150-hoax-bomb-threats-schools-and-other