Quick summary
A 25-year-old man from Decatur, Alabama, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Bangor on September 25, 2026, to making hoax bomb threats against Bangor International Airport in Maine. The threats — sent across February 13 and 14, 2025 — disrupted American Airlines operations at Bangor, Washington Dulles, and Washington National, with one flight arriving five hours late and cascading into a second disruption. The FBI put the airline’s losses at approximately $12,189.
The plea closes the criminal question, but the mechanics of the case are the real story. The defendant obtained staff contact details and watched police search the terminal in real time — from Alabama — through an online relationship with an airport employee.
The hoax lasted two days and reached three airports, but the attacker never left his home state.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the defendant used a number-masking app to send 107 messages to two American Airlines employees on February 13, 2025, claiming he had guns, asserting their phones had been compromised, and warning of an incident at 10:50 the following morning. He had their personal phone numbers. He knew details about their workplace. Investigators initially suspected he might hold airport access credentials.
He did not. What he held was a TikTok relationship.
The defendant had been in a long-distance online relationship with an American Airlines employee based at Bangor. During a screen-sharing session, he obtained the contact details of her coworkers. When officers swept the terminal the next morning, he was on a video call with her — watching the police response live from Decatur. View from the Wing first reported the screen-sharing and video-call details, which the federal account corroborates through the investigation’s findings.
Shortly after 5 a.m. on February 14, he called the airport switchboard, asked for investigators, and told them bombs on timers were placed outside the building. He set deadlines tied to the employees’ phones. While still in contact with the FBI, he called Washington Dulles, asked for American Airlines, and warned of an explosion within 15 minutes. FBI agents interviewed him that same day; he admitted making the calls and described them as a prank.
What the disruption actually cost — and how far it spread
The FBI’s accounting of $12,189 in American Airlines losses covers the two-day period, but the operational ripple extended well beyond Bangor. One inbound flight to Washington National Airport (DCA) arrived five hours late, and that delay propagated into the aircraft’s next scheduled segment — a textbook illustration of how a security response at a regional airport can consume resources at a hub.
| Date | Event | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 13, 2025 | 107 threatening messages sent to two American Airlines employees at BGR | Staff targeted; personal contact details exposed; security alert raised |
| Feb 14, 2025 — after 5 a.m. | Hoax bomb call to Bangor switchboard; second call to Washington Dulles | Terminal search at BGR; delays at BGR, DCA, and IAD |
| Feb 14, 2025 — same day | FBI interviews defendant in Alabama; he admits making the calls | Threat confirmed as hoax; disruption already incurred |
| Sep 25, 2026 | Guilty plea entered in U.S. District Court, Bangor | Criminal liability confirmed; sentencing pending |
The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the plea and the statutory exposure: a maximum of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing will be set after consideration of the Sentencing Guidelines and statutory factors — the statutory ceiling is not a sentencing prediction.
Investigators traced the activity to an iPhone and to cell towers in Decatur, Alabama. The records also led them to the defendant’s mother, who had relocated with him from Tennessee.
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The access route that screening cannot stop
This case sits in a category that airport security architecture is not designed to address. No perimeter was breached. No network was hacked. The defendant assembled everything he needed — staff phone numbers, workplace context, a live view of the police response — through a personal relationship conducted entirely on consumer platforms.
That is the operational-security problem the plea leaves unresolved. Staff contact directories, when shared casually during a screen-sharing session, become an attack surface. A video call, entirely ordinary in a long-distance relationship, handed the caller real-time intelligence on how the airport was responding to his own threat. The federal record confirms both elements; it does not establish that American Airlines or Bangor International revised their policies afterward.
For travelers, the more immediate lesson is about schedule fragility. A threat aimed at one airport — even a confirmed hoax — triggers a full security mobilisation: terminal searches, law-enforcement deployment, delayed and potentially diverted flights. The aircraft and crew caught in that response carry the disruption forward into their next assignments. Passengers connecting through BGR, DCA, or IAD should understand that rebooking decisions in these situations depend on aircraft and crew rotations, not only on whether their own airport is named in the threat.
What to do if a security alert hits your American Airlines flight
Security-driven disruptions at U.S. airports move fast and resolve unpredictably — the two-day span of this incident is not unusual when investigators cannot immediately rule out a credible threat.
- Check flight status before leaving for the airport. American Airlines’ flight-status tool at aa.com/flight-status updates in near real-time. A security alert at a connecting airport — Bangor, Dulles, or National — can affect your inbound aircraft before any gate announcement is made.
- Use the app, not the queue. If a delay is confirmed, open the American Airlines app immediately to review rebooking options. Airport lines form quickly during security events; the app often shows available alternatives before agents can process them manually.
- Ask whether the delay is propagating. A five-hour delay on one segment can push the aircraft’s next assignment late by the same margin. Ask the agent or check the app whether your specific aircraft tail number is the one affected — this tells you whether the disruption is likely to clear or compound.
- Know your insurance trigger. Most travel insurance trip-delay benefits activate after two to six hours. Start the clock from the scheduled departure time and keep all receipts for meals and accommodation incurred during the wait.
- Document the cause. Ask for written or electronic confirmation that the delay was security-related. This is the key phrase for insurance claims and, in some cases, for credit card travel protections.
Watch: The sentencing date, once set by the court, will determine whether restitution to American Airlines is ordered — and whether the financial accountability for a two-day hoax disruption goes beyond the guilty plea.
Questions? Answers.
What charge did the defendant plead guilty to?
He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Bangor, Maine, to engaging in a hoax involving an airport bomb threat. The charge carries a maximum of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing had not been scheduled as of the plea date.
Which airports were affected by the hoax threats?
Bangor International Airport in Maine was the primary target and the site of the terminal search. Washington Dulles International Airport and Washington National Airport were also named in the threats and experienced flight delays, including one American Airlines arrival at National that came in five hours late.
How did the defendant get the employees’ contact details without entering the airport?
According to the federal account, he was in a long-distance online relationship with an American Airlines employee based at Bangor. During a screen-sharing session, he obtained the personal phone numbers of her coworkers. He never needed physical access to the airport or its systems.
Is American Airlines entitled to recover its losses?
The FBI estimated American Airlines’ losses at approximately $12,189. Whether the court orders restitution will depend on the sentencing, which had not been scheduled at the time of the guilty plea. Restitution is a separate question from the criminal penalty and is not guaranteed by the plea itself.
What should I do if a security alert delays my flight at one of these airports?
Check your flight status at aa.com/flight-status before leaving for the airport, use the American Airlines app to review rebooking options immediately if a delay is confirmed, and ask gate agents whether the disruption is likely to affect your specific aircraft’s next segment. If you have travel insurance with a trip-delay benefit, document the delay cause in writing — security-related delays are typically classified as extraordinary circumstances outside the airline’s control.
