Already the Nashville International Airport security screeners had found a laptop that the Orlando-bound Delta passenger Jose L. Gonzalez said at first he didn't have.
Then, as they were searching his carry-on bag, Gonzalez announced that he had a bomb.
He then plunged his hand into his luggage and withdrew a Bible, declaring, ''This is my bomb,'' federal agents charge.
Gonzalez, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor living in Deltona, Fla., sent Transportation Security Agency staffers, airport police and, ultimately, the FBI scrambling to assess the potential terror threat Sunday night at the Nashville airport, federal court records show.
The follow-up investigation determined that Gonzalez did not have an explosive device in his carry-on bag, according to a federal complaint. Still, the FBI arrested the minister and charged him with making a false statement.
''Upon being questioned by airport security officers about the above episode, Gonzalez admitted having said that he had a bomb,'' a federal criminal complaint states, ''but insisted that he was just kidding.
''He claimed he had used the term 'bomb' as a way of referring to the Bible as having the ability to change one's life,'' the complaint states. ''He admitted that it had been stupid and that he had not intended any harm.''
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Then, as they were searching his carry-on bag, Gonzalez announced that he had a bomb.
He then plunged his hand into his luggage and withdrew a Bible, declaring, ''This is my bomb,'' federal agents charge.
Gonzalez, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor living in Deltona, Fla., sent Transportation Security Agency staffers, airport police and, ultimately, the FBI scrambling to assess the potential terror threat Sunday night at the Nashville airport, federal court records show.
The follow-up investigation determined that Gonzalez did not have an explosive device in his carry-on bag, according to a federal complaint. Still, the FBI arrested the minister and charged him with making a false statement.
''Upon being questioned by airport security officers about the above episode, Gonzalez admitted having said that he had a bomb,'' a federal criminal complaint states, ''but insisted that he was just kidding.
''He claimed he had used the term 'bomb' as a way of referring to the Bible as having the ability to change one's life,'' the complaint states. ''He admitted that it had been stupid and that he had not intended any harm.''
Full Story Here
