Two Navy Contractors Arrested for Separate Bomb Hoaxes

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/two-navy-contractors-arrested-separate-bomb-hoaxes

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 15, 2016

Two Navy Contractors Arrested for Separate Bomb Hoaxes

SAN DIEGO – Two Navy contractors were arrested and arraigned Wednesday on charges that in unrelated cases, they gave false information about bogus bomb threats that resulted in mass evacuations of Navy ships and the pier where they were docked.

Contractor Joshua Rice, 26, is charged in a grand jury indictment with reporting to Navy security personnel that he saw an inscription of the word “bomb” on the inside of a portable toilet near three Naval vessels docked at Naval Base San Diego on the morning of May 17, 2016, when he knew there was no true threat. The false report caused a security response, shutting down all work on the nearby ships and the pier. At the time, Rice was working as a contractor for American Marine.

Roberto Rubio, 22, is charged in a separate indictment with writing “9-24-16 400 bomb” on an interior wall onboard USS Cowpens and reporting it to another contractor on September 24, 2016. At the time, USS Cowpens was undergoing maintenance on the San Diego Ship Repair Facility, and Rubio’s false report also caused the anticipated security response, shutting down all work on the ship until it could be verified that there was no bomb. At the time, he was working as a welder for Navy contractor BAE Systems.

For each bomb threat, there is a security response that includes clearing the area and stopping all work, which has a significant negative impact on all affected personnel and Navy readiness.
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