NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Queens man has been arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat at the FBI’s New York headquarters after claiming a foreign government was trying to extort him.
Officials said Gerardo Manuel Checo Nunez, 33, of Queens was charged Thursday, and faces up to five years in prison for the hoax threat, which was made Wednesday, officials said.
“While Nunez’s alleged threat to our federal building was deemed a hoax, his actions called for the resources of law enforcement, which were expended in response to one man’s personal gripe,” said FBI Asst. Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll. “Aside from the fact that these types of hoax threats divert resources and cost taxpayer dollars, they put law enforcement in harm’s way regardless of their intended purpose.”
According to officials, on Wednesday, Nunez entered the Jacob K. Javits Building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, the headquarters of the New York Field Office of the FBI and other federal agencies.
Nunez then allegedly went up to a security booth and began slamming against the security screen with a copy of a complaint he filed with the FBI, alleging a foreign government hacked his accounts and was trying to extort him.
Nunez then told FBI Police that he had an improvised explosive device (IED) in his vehicle, and said he wanted to turn himself in, officials said.
FBI Police again asked if Nunez had an IED in his vehicle, to which he responded affirmatively. But when the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force arrived, he allegedly admitted he didn’t have an IED, and only said that because his hacking allegations had gone ignored.
Nunez was taken into custody, and the task force went to search his vehicle, which was located across the street. The nearby area was evacuated as a precaution, officials said.
Bomb techs searched Nunez’s van, and officials said no IED was found, but rounds of .223 caliber ammo and “written materials regarding weapons of mass destruction and the detection of IEDs” were located.
According to officials, Nunez was enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2006-2013, including as an engineer equipment operator.