LIMA, Peru — A man was arrested in Peru last week after law enforcement officials allegedly connected him to hundreds of hoax bomb threats across the U.S., including in Pennsylvania.
Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos, 33, is accused of making threats to more than 150 school districts, synagogues, airports, hospitals and a shopping mall in multiple states including New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona and Alaska between Sept. 15 and Sept. 21.
Authorities say some of the threats were made after being denied sexually explicit photos from teenage girls. Nunez Santos was chatting with online under the alias "Lucas."
“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," FBI assistant director in charge James Smith said. "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.”
When making his threats, Nunez Santos would allegedly sometimes direct the institutions to contact the phone number or IP address associated with teen girls who had refused to send him photos.
The disruption caused by the threats was "massive," law enforcement officials said, including evacuations of thousands of schoolchildren, a lockdown of a hospital and flight delays.
Nunez Santos was caught through an investigation into email, phone, and IP address data.
He is charged with transmitting threatening interstate communications, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; conveying false information and hoaxes, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; attempting to sexually exploit a child, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; attempting to coerce and entice a minor, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and attempting to receive child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
