A former Northeastern College digital actuality lab supervisor who faked a bomb explosion that injured solely himself however required a significant police response will spend a yr in jail for his crime.
“Bomb hoaxes are not a harmless act, they inflict fear, divert resources and put both first responders and the public at real risk as they race to the scene,” U.S. Lawyer Joshua Levy mentioned following the sentencing. “This sentence should send a clear message to everyone who engages in bomb threats and swatting incidents that you will be held accountable and that one phone call may land you in jail.”
U.S. District Court docket Senior Decide William G. Younger on Monday sentenced Jason Duhaime, 47, previously of each Massachusetts and San Antonio, to a yr and a day in jail to be adopted by two years of supervised launch.
Duhaime was convicted in June of final yr of deliberately conveying false and deceptive data associated to an explosive gadget and two counts of constructing materially false statements to a federal legislation enforcement agent.
Duhaime at round 7 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2022, referred to as the Northeastern College Police Division and reported that he was injured by sharp objects that flew out of a plastic case he was engaged on within the lab. He mentioned the case was one among two Pelican-style circumstances. Pelican is a U.S. producer of a wide range of gadgets and are recognized particularly for his or her exhausting plastic-shelled protecting circumstances.
Duhaime, who was then employed by the college because the “New Technology Manager” and the director of the college’s Immersive Media Lab, mentioned the case included an nameless “violent note” that threatened to destroy the lab.
The observe rambled about Fb founder Mark Zuckerberg and the U.S. authorities and a conspiracy to “change us as a world” by making society depending on digital actuality and synthetic intelligence.
“It has come to our attention that this VR lab is trying to change us as a world! Trying to get us to live in a world that we only communicate through headsets and live in a land called the METEVERSE,” the observe states. “… You are trying to change the fabric of the ideology of a people (sic)! Trying to get us all to live inside a virtual (expletive)ed up world!!!!”
The observe is rife with further clarification marks and capitalization used for emphasis. It additionally has quite a few misspellings together with for what must be “metaverse,” which Merriam-Webster defines as “a persistent virtual environment that allows access to and interaction between multiple individual virtual realities.”
“We know you are working with Mr. Mark Zuckerberg and the US government!!!!!” the observe continues. “… We know he has employed your MSO team and you are secretly traveling to see him and give him test results!!! We know he hands you secret documents to travel back with!!!!”
It concludes with an ominous tone: “Take notice!!! You have 2 months to take operations down or else!!!!! WE ARE WATCHING YOU.”
The U.S. Lawyer’s workplace mentioned Duhaime’s report and the existence of a second, unopened case “triggered a significant law enforcement response that included, among other things, the assistance of the Boston Police Department’s bomb squad, multiple federal and state law enforcement agencies and the evacuation of a portion of the Northeastern campus.”
Duhaime denied that he was concerned in any approach with the scenario throughout questioning by police, in accordance with federal prosecutors. Nevertheless, investigators weren’t satisfied. They carried out a forensic search of laptop computer computer systems in his workplace and located “a word-for-word electronic copy of the anonymous threat letter” on one among them. They then decided he had printed the letter out simply hours earlier than calling within the explosion.
