A man who allegedly aboard a Denver-bound United Airlines flight and then claimed to find it in the plane’s bathroom told federal authorities he penned the note because he was trying to get help for his problems, court documents say.
“I won’t say I wrote the threat,” Cameron E. Korth told an FBI agent, according to a criminal complaint, “but I won’t say I didn’t.”
Korth, 20, is accused of maliciously conveying false information during the Jan. 16 International Airport, a charge that carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
When the plane landed, it was parked on an isolated taxiway and passengers were evacuated onto waiting buses as the aircraft was swept by the Denver Police Department’s bomb squad. No explosives were found.
Trouble aboard the plane began, authorities say, when Korth claimed he found a bomb threat note in the plane’s bathroom and alerted the crew.
The note read: “THERE IS BOMBS ON UA 231 DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LAND.”
The criminal complaint, reviewed Tuesday by The Denver Post, says Korth was evaluated by paramedics after the plane was evacuated because he “claimed to be suffering from a panic attack.”
An FBI agent reviewed his criminal history and found arrests for falsely reporting or causing report of an emergency to fire, police or medical, and other offenses.
As Korth began to pen a written statement about the bomb threat, the FBI agent noticed similarities between his handwriting and the handwriting in the threatening note, according to the complaint.
When pressed about the similarities, the criminal complaint says, Korth admitted to writing the note in his seat on paper he found and taking it to one of the aircraft’s bathrooms. He told investigators he then claimed to find the threat before bringing it to the attention of a flight attendant.
Korth told authorities he had a significant criminal history because he had dated — and done drugs with — a stripper and that his father was in prison for embezzlement.
