Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A federal judge sentenced a former Northeastern University employee to one year and one day in prison for staging a hoax explosion and lying to the authorities about it.
A federal jury convicted Jason Duhaime of intentionally conveying false and misleading information about an explosive device and two counts of making materially false statements to a federal law enforcement agent back in June of 2024. After serving his prison sentence, Duhaime will have two years of supervised release.
Duhaime was working as the New Technology Manager and Director of the Immersive Media Lab at Northeastern back in September of 2022. On Sept. 13, he called Northeastern Police and told them he had been injured by sharp objects that shot out of a case he opened inside the lab. Duhaime also said the case had an anonymous note inside threatening to destroy the label that read:
“In the case you got today we could have planted explosives but not this time!!! Take notice!!! You have two months to take operations down or else!!!!! WE ARE WATCHING YOU.”
Duhaime told the authorities that there was a second unopened case as well. Boston Police bomb squad and several other federal and state law enforcement agencies responded to take care of the second case. A section of Northeastern's campus had to be evacuated as well.
However, a forensic analysis of his laptop found a word-for-word copy of the letter Duhaime claimed was inside the case. The letter had been printed just a few hours before Duhaime reported the incident to the police. He was arrested in October 2022.
“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,” United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement. “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.”