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Peru resident Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos, age 33, was arrested by Peruvian authorities on Tuesday, Sept. 26 after allegedly placing a string of bomb threats in New York, Connecticut, Arizona, and Alaska in retaliation against teenage girls for them refusing to send him sexually explicit photos, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced.
According to federal officials, beginning on Friday, Sept. 15, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began receiving reports of bomb threats sent by email or online contact forms to numerous institutions throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona, and Alaska.
After investigating email, phone, and Internet Protocol address data, the FBI eventually determined that Nunez Santos, a resident of Lima, Peru, had been allegedly responsible for sending the threats, which had been sent to schools, synagogues, airports, hospitals, and a shopping mall.
One of these threats was sent to a synagogue in Westchester County, New York, which read: "I placed multiple bombs inside the Jewish Center. The bombs I placed in the building will blow up in a few hours. Many people will lay in a pool of blood," according to federal officials.
Another threat sent to around 24 Pennsylvania school districts allegedly read, "I placed multiple bombs in all of the schools from your School Districts. The bombs will blow up in a few hours. I’ll gladly smile when your families are crying because of your deaths."
The bomb threats were all reported between Friday, Sept. 15, and Thursday, Sept. 21, officials said, adding that there were well over 150 threats in total.
As a result of the threats, emergency law enforcement responses were triggered and significant disruptions were caused to the recipients, such as school evacuations and closures, airline flight delays, and a hospital lockdown.
One such threat sent on Tuesday, Sept. 19 resulted in the evacuation of over 1,100 schoolchildren across around 20 different Pennsylvania schools.
According to federal officials, a motive for the threats was discovered when investigators noticed that many of them contained references to particular phone numbers or a particular IP address, as well as a directive telling victimized institutions to contact them.
The FBI eventually found that these phone numbers and IP addresses belonged to teenage girls, including two Pennsylvania residents, ages 17 and 13, and a 15-year-old New York resident. All three of the girls had engaged in online conversations with Nunez Santos, who had allegedly used the alias of "Lucas" and had posed as 15 years old when talking with them.
During these conversations, Nunez Santos repeatedly asked at least two of the girls to send them nude photos of themselves. When the girls would then refuse or cut off contact with him, he would threaten to bomb their schools or kill them and then proceed to send the threats to the institutions, including their phone numbers or IP addresses, according to federal officials.
Nunez Santos is now charged with the following:
- Transmitting threatening interstate communications, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison;
- Conveying false information and hoaxes, which also carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison;
- Attempting to sexually exploit a child, which carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years;
- Attempting to coerce and entice a minor, which carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison;
- Attempting to receive child pornography, which carries a mandatory sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
US Attorney Damian Williams commented on Nunez Santos's alleged crimes, calling them "reprehensible and socially destructive."
"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," he added, continuing, "Working together with our law enforcement partners, we will find you, and we will prosecute you.”
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