SkyWest flight attendant charged over fake bomb threat, admits earlier hoax as well
Photo: Justin Cox-Sever/Facebook
A SkyWest flight attendant is facing federal charges after allegedly inventing a story about a suspicious package onboard a SkyWest flight, a fabrication that led to an emergency landing and the evacuation of a North Dakota airport. According to an FBI affidavit, Justin Cox-Sever admitted that he stuffed a bag with towels, hid it in the back of the plane and before reporting that it was “making beeping noises.”
SkyWest Flight 4770 was flying from Minneapolis when Cox-Sever said that he had seen a suspicious bag tucked under a seat near the rear of the aircraft. The 21-year-old alerted the flight deck, and crew members asked if any passenger could claim the bag. Cox-Sever told the crew that “the bag was beeping slowly for 15-20 seconds and then rapidly for 35-40 seconds.” When the flight landed at Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport in Dickinson, North Dakota, the entire facility was evacuated, and air traffic to and from the airport was temporarily halted. Both the FBI and the Bismarck Police Bomb Squad were called to investigate.
When he was questioned by the FBI, Cox-Sever reportedly told the federal agents that he was the one who both planted and reported the bag, knowing that there was nothing dangerous inside. He was arrested and, on Monday, was in federal court where he was charged with reckless disregard for human life and communicating false information.
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