{"id":347540,"date":"2026-06-05T03:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347540\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T03:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:58:25","slug":"man-is-accused-of-bringing-a-bomb-to-a-california-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347540\/","title":{"rendered":"Man is accused of bringing a bomb to a California airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 A man carrying what authorities described as an explosive device powerful enough to damage a plane, as well as a torch lighter, knife, zip ties and other items, was arrested after trying to pass through a Sacramento International Airport security checkpoint<\/a> over the weekend, federal prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

The 49-year-old from Sacramento was wearing a scarf covering his face and latex gloves, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said in a news release. He also had five cell phones: one with a 15-minute timer set to begin, a second with a message on the screen from another phone number saying, \u201cwe will be awaiting your call.\u201d <\/p>\n

Evidence photos released by prosecutors show a cardboard tube about the size of a toilet paper roll fitted with a green fuse. Bomb technicians tested the device. The powder and fuse \u201cwere determined to be viable and energetic,\u201d Grant said. <\/p>\n

If the device had detonated next to a window on a pressurized aircraft flying above 10,000 feet (3 kilometers), Grant said, \u201cit had the potential to damage the aircraft and cause a possible loss of cabin pressure.\u201d <\/p>\n

Before the device was removed from the airport, officers put a bomb blast suppression blanket over it and taped off the immediate area, according to the federal complaint against the man.<\/p>\n

He was arrested Saturday and appeared in federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday. He is charged with unlawful possession of explosive material in an airport. The complaint also alleges he made \u201crambling\u201d calls to the FBI in the months beforehand to report he was being threatened and intimidated. <\/p>\n

His public defender, Meghan McLoughlin, said in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday that \u201cthere is often more to these cases than the government\u2019s allegations, and that the criminal process will reveal\u201d her client\u2019s story as well. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t immediately known how extensively the man was searched at the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint. Last year, air travelers in the U.S. were no longer required to take off their shoes during security screenings. Screenings without shoes<\/a> became a requirement in 2006, several years after \u201cshoe bomber\u201d Richard Reid\u2019s failed 2001 attempt to take down a flight from Paris to Miami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 A man carrying what authorities described as an explosive device powerful enough to damage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[54325,7,9,8,1312,75248,70205,18,142415,142416,121,8619,17],"class_list":["post-347540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-airport-security","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-courts","tag-email-and-messaging","tag-eric-grant","tag-general-news","tag-meghan-mcloughlin","tag-richard-reid","tag-sacramento","tag-transportation-security-administration","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}