LIBERTY ISLAND — A deaf man was arrested Wednesday in Texas for calling in a bogus bomb threat at the Statue of Liberty that scattered thousands of tourists from the island in April, authorities said.
On April 24, an emergency call line operator received a call from a man claiming he was an Islamic State terrorist preparing to blow up Lady Liberty, according the federal complaint, which was first reported by the New York Post.
While he claimed he was Abdul Yasin, still wanted for his alleged role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, he was really Jason Paul Smith, a 42-year-old man from West Virginia, federal prosecutors charge.
Smith was arrested in Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday, for calling in the bomb threat from his iPad using a service the helps the hearing-impaired make calls, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said.
An FBI investigation found that the iPad, registered in Smith's name, was also used to make two 911 calls in May in which a user calling himself "ISIS allah Bomb maker" threatened to kill police officers at the Brooklyn Bridge and an attack on Times Square, according to the complaint.
Smith's Facebook page says he attends a school for the deaf and blind, investigators found.
Smith faces a charge of conveying false and misleading information and a maximum of five years in prison for, according to the news release.
In the April 24 hoax call, Smith allegedly "described himself as an 'ISI terrorist,' and threatened that 'we' are preparing to 'blow up' the Statue of Liberty," the news release said.
Liberty Island had to be evacuated when bomb-sniffing dogs investigating the threat raised an alert while sweeping the visitor lockers, according to the news release, though no threat was ultimately found.
More than 3,200 of tourists had to be evacuated from the island when the threat was called in on April 24, the attorney’s press release said. Some bobbed in the harbor for hours as the ferries they were on waited to dock.
