Man in Peru arrested for making Westchester synagogue threats, hundreds others across U.S.
The FBI said a 33-year-old man from Peru was arrested by Peruvian authorities after he sent bomb threats to over 150 school districts, synagogues and other public places in multiple locations including Westchester County.
Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a news release that Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos called in fake bomb threats to schools, synagogues, airports, hospitals and a shopping mall from Sept. 15 to Sept. 21. The threats were received in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona, Alaska, and New York.
He said the threats caused "evacuations of thousands of schoolchildren, a lockdown of a hospital and flight delays."
Williams said Nunez Santos made the threats in retaliation against a 15-year-old girl and other minors who refused to provide him with child pornography.
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. "
Williams said that Nunez Santos threatened synagogues in Westchester County on Sept. 17, the last night of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. He wrote in an email, "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."
Westchester County Executive George Latimer informed the public of the threats the next day in a news conference. He said that local police deemed the threat not credible on the day of the incident but still increased security presence around all Jewish public places during the high holy days.
Williams said that many of Nunez Santos' threats were made to specific communities and "referenced particular phone numbers and IP addresses, directing the institutions to contact those numbers and addresses." Williams said they were tied to certain minors in contact with Nunez Santos while he was impersonating a 15-year-old named "Lucas," including a 17-year-old and 13-year-old girl from Pennsylvania and a 15-year-old girl from New York. Williams said that Nunez Santos repeatedly asked the girls to send him nude photographs and threatened to "bomb their schools and kill them" when they refused.
Nunez Santos is charged with five felony counts, including conveying false information and hoaxes, attempting to sexually exploit a child and attempting to receive child pornography. If found guilty, Nunez Santos could face up to 30 years in prison.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester synagogue threats: Man in Peru arrested
