A former manager of new technology at Boston’s Northeastern University was arrested Tuesday and charged with falsely reporting that he was injured when a suspicious package he opened exploded inside a campus building last month, federal prosecutors said. said the officer.
Former employee Jason Duheim was charged with conveying false information and hoaxes related to explosive devices and making materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements to federal agencies, according to court records. it was done.
Duheim was injured on the night of Sept. 13 by a “sharp” object ejected from an open plastic case inside a Northeastern lab that contained a threatening letter, according to a 911 operator and told federal investigators. says the record.
When officers responded, Mr. Duheim pulled up his sleeve and showed “a few small superficial marks or bruises on the lower forearm,” but his shirt “did not appear to be damaged.” .
At the hospital, Duheim told Boston police detectives, “I don’t know how to explain the energy, the air, whatever,” as soon as the incident happened, according to court records.
Authorities say an investigation found that Duheim wrote the letter, that the case contained no “sharps” and nothing was ejected when he opened it, resulting in , he was found uninjured, court records say.
Mr. Duheim’s report describes a “massive bomb squad” that included the deployment of two bomb squads, the evacuation of much of the Northeastern Boston campus, and numerous campus-wide warnings sent by the Northeastern Police Department. ” elicited a law enforcement response. at Holmes Hall.
Duhaim, 45, the new technology manager at the Northeastern Immersive Media Lab, was arrested Tuesday near his home in San Antonio, Texas, officials said. The two charges he faces each carry a maximum of five years in prison and his $250,000 fine.
Authorities declined to explain a motive, saying the investigation was ongoing.
A lawyer representing Duheim did not respond to a request for comment, according to court records.
In a statement Tuesday, Northeastern thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and the Boston Police Department for working on the case. With that in mind, I would like to clarify that there has never been any danger to the Northeast community.
The statement added, “While the university has not commented on personnel matters, we can confirm that Mr. Duheim is not employed by Northeastern.”
A day after reporting the blast, Duheim told The Boston Globe that he was a victim of criminal activity and that investigators should find those responsible.
“I didn’t stage this. There is no form, no form,” Duheim told The Globe. “They need to catch the man who did this.”
A photo of the ransom note in court records shows the document was typewritten and littered with spelling errors and multiple exclamation points. It referred to “human subjects” and robots roaming college campuses and accused Northeastern’s Virtual Reality Lab of being “Antichrists sent into this world to change everything!!!”!! !
The letter added that the lab “knows” that it is working with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the federal government, adding that it would “suspend operations or else have two months. It will take!!!!!” warned the lab.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachel S. Rollins says forensic analysis of computers seized from Mr. Duheim’s Northeast office reveals “word-for-word electronic copies” of letters kept in backup folders. said it was.
Metadata associated with the file showed it was created on Sept. 13, about four hours before the reported explosion, she said.
Rollins said the letter and case showed no signs of exposure to the blast, and the storage closet where Duheim claimed to have opened the case appeared normal and undisturbed. There was no debris on the floor or anywhere else, she said.
Special Agent Joseph R. Bonavolonta, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Boston, said Mr. Duheim “repeatedly lied to us” about what happened in the lab and “disguised his injuries.” and wrote him a rambling letter.” In the laboratory, threatens further violence. ”
“In this case, Duheim wanted to be a victim, but I believe he did so at the expense of entire communities by instilling fear on college campuses in Massachusetts and elsewhere,” Bonavolonta said at a news conference Tuesday. added.