Federal prosecutors said a former manager of new technology at Northeastern University in Boston was arrested Tuesday and charged with preparing a report that he was injured when he shot a car inside a campus building last month. Suspicious package was opened.
According to court records, the former employee, Jason Duhaime, was charged with false information and defrauding related to an explosive device, as well as making materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements to a federal agency.
Mr. Duhaime told a 911 operator and a federal agent that he had been injured by “sharp” objects removed from a plastic case he had opened inside the Northeast laboratory on the evening of September 13, and that the case involved a threat. The letter was filled, court records say.
But officials said an investigation showed Mr Duhaime wrote the letter, that there was no “sharp” object in the case, that nothing was expelled when he opened it, and that he was not injured as a result. was, court records say.
Mr. Duhaime’s report attracted an “enormous” law enforcement response that included the deployment of two bomb squads, the evacuation of a large portion of the Northeast Boston campus, and multiple campus alerts sent by the Northeast Police Department, including one in The “explosion” was described. in Holmes Hall.
Mr Duhaime, who was the new technology manager at Immersive Media Labs in the Northeast, was arrested Tuesday near his home in San Antonio, Texas, and was to appear in federal court in the city the same day, officials said.
A lawyer who represents Mr Duhaime, according to court records, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement Tuesday, Northeastern thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, and the Boston Police Department for their work on the case. “Knowing what we now know about this incident, we would like to clarify that there was never a threat to the Northeastern community,” Northeastern said.
“The university does not comment on personnel matters, but we can confirm that Mr. Duhaime is no longer employed by Northeast,” the statement said.
A day after reporting the explosion, Mr. Duhaime told The Boston Globe that he had been the victim of a criminal act and that investigators should find those responsible.
“I didn’t stage it, not in any way shape or form,” Mr Duhaime told The Globe. “They need to catch the man who did it.”
According to a photo of the threatening letter included in court records, the letter was typed and riddled with spelling mistakes and multiple exclamation points. It referred to “human test subjects” and robots, and it accused the Northeast’s virtual reality lab of being “the Antichrist sent into this world to change everything!!!
The letter said that “we know” that the lab works with Mark Zuckerberg, META’s chief executive officer, and the federal government, and it warned the lab “two months or more to cease operations!! !!!”
US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Rachel S. Rollins said forensic analysis of a computer confiscated from Mr. Duhaime’s Northeast office revealed a “word-by-word electronic copy” of the letter stored in a backup folder.
He said the metadata attached to the file indicated that it was created on Sept. 13, about four hours before the reported eruption.
Ms Rollins said the letter and case showed no indication that they had been exposed to an explosion, and the storage closet where Mr Duhaime claimed to have opened the case appeared normal and unobstructed. He said there was no debris on the floor or anywhere else.
Special Agent Joseph R., in charge of the FBI’s field office in Boston. Bonavolonta said Mr Duhaime “lyed to us repeatedly” about what happened inside the lab, and “fake his injuries and wrote a gambling letter directed” is threatening more violence in the lab. “
“In this case, we believe that Mr. Duhaime wanted to be the victim, but instead victimized his entire community by instilling fear on college campuses in Massachusetts and beyond,” Bonavolonta added at a news conference on Tuesday.