FBI authorities Tuesday arrested a former Northeastern University employee accused of lying to investigators and allegedly staging a hoax explosion at the Boston-based college last month.
Jason Duhaime of San Antonio, Texas, was charged with one count of intentionally conveying false and misleading information related to an explosive device and another count of making materially false statements to a federal law enforcement agent, said Rachael S. Rollins, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, at a Tuesday press conference. A motive has not yet been revealed, authorities said.
“This alleged conduct is disturbing, to say the least,” Rollins said.
Duhaime, 45, was arrested in the Western District of Texas. He was the only person reportedly injured during the Sept. 13 incident that led to Northeastern’s campus being evacuated that evening.
The reports of an explosion on campus triggered a large response from Boston Police, the Northeastern University Police Department and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Rollins said.
Officials told The Associated Press in September investigators found inconsistencies with Duhaime’s statement and that his injuries didn’t match those resulting from an explosion.
Charging documents showed Duhaime, who was then employed as Northeastern’s Immersive Media Lab technology manager and director, called 911 on Sept. 13 to report being hurt by sharp objects that he said came from a plastic case he opened in the lab, located in the university’s Holmes Hall, according to the prosecutors.
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Duhaime allegedly told a 911 operator that he and a student had earlier brought several packages into the lab from a mail area, among which were two Pelican cases the former employee took into a lab storage closet, according to authorities.
Charging documents also showed Duhaime told the operator he was injured on his arm when “very sharp” objects flew from one of the cases when he opened it. Duhaime reported finding an anonymous lab-directed “violent note” in the case, according to court papers.
FBI investigators found probable cause to believe Duhaime had provided false information, that the case contained nothing sharp and that he wasn’t injured by anything inside when he opened it, the affidavit showed.
Local and federal law enforcement found the case Duhaime described to be empty and undamaged, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.
Investigators found no evidence that the case or letter Duhaime said was inside were exposed to “a forceful or explosive discharge of any type or magnitude,” and the storage closet also showed no signs of explosion or suspicious debris, according to prosecutors.
The FBI believed Duhaime wrote the letter himself, said FBI Boston special agent in charge Joe Bonavolonta. The letter’s condition was described as “pristine” aside from several fold marks, the affidavit read.
“Duhaime’s arrest should be a warning to everyone that this is not a game, and threats like these are not a joke,” Bonavolonta said in a statement.
Duhaime previously denied fabricating the story and allegedly remained consistent with what he told the 911 operator in subsequent law enforcement interviews.
“I did not stage this…No way, shape or form…they need to catch the guy that did this,” he told the The Boston Globe.
Northeastern, a private university of around 16,000 students, confirmed to USA TODAY in an email that Duhaime is no longer employed there.
“Knowing what we know now about this incident, we would like to make it clear that there was never any danger to the Northeastern community,” the university’s statement read.
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Duhaime was scheduled to appear federal court in Boston at a yet-to-be-determined date, according to the District of Massachusetts.
Both charges he faces each carry sentences of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a maximum $250,000 fine, according to the District of Massachusetts.
An attorney for Duhaime did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for a comment.
Last month’s alleged threat marked one of the first big scares in Boston since 2013, when two bombs planted near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 others.
Contributing: The Associated Press