Man making bogus bomb threats to schools, hospital is arrested in Missouri, feds say
Bogus bomb threats to Oregon schools, a hospital and a judge were called in by a man in Missouri, where he was later arrested, officials say.
Sean Case McGinley, 40, has since been indicted by a federal grand jury “with four counts of making interstate threats involving explosives and four counts of conveying false information and hoaxes about destructive devices,” according to a Thursday, Dec. 2 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the District of Oregon.
A defense attorney representing McGinley could not be reached for comment by McClatchy News.
Federal officials say McGinley started making “hoax bomb threats” to Oregon’s Newberg-Dundee Police Department dispatch center on Oct. 26. In multiple calls, he said he had placed a pipe bomb under a vehicle in the city.
Officers checked the location, officials say, and did not find any bombs.
Investigators discovered the calls and phone number were coming from the St. Louis area, where McGinley has family, according to the news release.
Almost two weeks later, on Nov. 9, officials say McGinley called the dispatch center again. This time, he said there was a pipe bomb in a Newberg Municipal Court judge’s vehicle tailpipe.
“A Newberg-Dundee police officer returned McGinley’s call and spoke with him about the alleged tip,” officials say. “During this discussion, McGinley told the officer that he hoped someone would place a pipe bomb in the judge’s vehicle tailpipe and that he believed the judge was worthless.”
Officials say McGinley once lived in Newberg.
A few days later, on Nov. 12, Newberg High School’s principal reported a warning about a bomb, officials said. The principal had a voicemail from someone “claiming there was a pipe bomb in the school.” Investigators learned that call also came from McGinley in the St. Louis area.
That same morning, officials say he also called in a similar threat at Sherwood High School. He then called a school resource officer, said who he was and “provided information about a purported pedophilia ring in Sherwood.”
McGinley is accused of reporting at least eight other bomb threats to public and private institutions between Nov. 18 and Nov. 23. Those threats included other schools, the Providence Newberg Medical Center and the Providence Sherwood Medical Plaza. The hoax call to the medical plaza led to ambulatory patients and staff evacuations.
Following his “threat spree,” law enforcement received a federal criminal complaint and arrest warrant against McGinley, according to the news release. He was arrested Nov. 24 in St. Louis, and the case is still under investigation.
“Making interstate threats involving explosives is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison, three years’ supervised release, and a fine of $250,000,” officials say. “Conveying false information and hoaxes about destructive devices is punishable by up to five years in federal prison, three years’ supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.”
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