Home » News » Public Safety
Facebook pix spat sparks Philadelphia plane bomb hoax
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) — A man avenging his girlfriend over a questionable Facebook photograph was charged on Friday with falsely reporting explosives aboard a plane that was ordered to return to Philadelphia Airport, authorities said.
Kenneth Smith Jr., 26, was charged with using a telephone to convey false information about the woman's former boyfriend, who was a passenger aboard the US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Dallas on Thursday.
Shortly after the plane had departed, it was ordered back to Philadelphia when police received a call that the former boyfriend, Christopher Shell, 29, was carrying explosives on board.
No dangerous materials were found, and the incident was soon deemed to be a hoax, authorities said.
“Smith stated that his motive for doing so was to avenge Person 1's (Shell) ex-girlfriend of whom Person 1 had posted a compromising picture on Facebook,” said an FBI affidavit.
Smith, who lives in Philadelphia, could face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 and possible restitution, said the Patricia Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
While not charged in the plane incident, Shell was arrested when he finally arrived in Dallas on an outstanding warrant of marijuana possession.
Shell, who now lives in Philadelphia and turned 29 on Thursday, was taken off the plane for questioning, but once cleared was allowed to fly to Dallas on a later plane.
- New Ipswich man burned in garage fire, flown to Boston - 0
- Two sustained minor injuries in Rochester crash Sunday - 0
- Boat crash in Tuftonboro investigated - 0
- Driving lesson turns into car accident in Laconia - 0
- Fire destroys vacant Berlin building - 0
- NY man stable after destroying classic Porsche 911 in Route 16 wreck - 3
- Investigators seek cause of Conn. train crash - 0
- Berlin man dies while kayaking - 0
- Man seriously hurt in North Country crash of 1967 Porsche - 0
Bird's nest may have caused house fire in Hudson
READER COMMENTS: 0- NHIAA boxscores, summaries for May 20, 2013 - 0
- Police say man held girlfriend in car, arrest him - 0
- Overtime puts stress on Nashua police budget - 0
- Manchester, church group seek accord on breakfast for homeless - 1
- Ky. Sen. Rand Paul to NH GOP: Let's look like America - 2
- Man gunned down on Manchester street was talented graffiti artist - 0
- Experts weigh in on UNH logo designs - 0
- Two had a NH history before brutal Bedford attack - 0
- Derry marks a soldier's death - 0



