The FBI has arrested a Denver woman for allegedly calling and warning an airline that her husband — who was on board a plane — planned to detonate a bomb.
Terrice Gay Hutchinson, 53, made the bomb threat to Southwest Airlines on April 17, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hutchinson allegedly said that her husband was carrying the bomb on a flight from Denver to Las Vegas.
The airline investigated the threat without interrupting the flight.
“She was upset that he was going to Las Vegas, and that is the way she chose to stop him,” said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado. “Obviously it didn’t work.”
A federal grand jury indicted Hutchinson on June 16 in Denver.
If convicted, Hutchinson faces up to five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine for providing false information and threats concerning aviation transportation.
“No more of this,” U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid said in a release. “Threats involving commercial aircraft are totally unacceptable and will be prosecuted.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
