{"id":395201,"date":"2026-09-09T22:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T22:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/395201\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T22:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T22:16:17","slug":"chicago-man-angry-over-spam-calls-faked-bomb-threat-to-disney-cruise-line-prosecutors-say-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/395201\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago man angry over spam calls faked bomb threat to Disney Cruise Line, prosecutors say \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man from Chicago allegedly called in a hoax bomb threat to Disney Cruise Line<\/a> late last year, leading to an indictment by a federal grand jury in Orlando \u2014 though he wants the case moved to Illinois.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office announced the charge Tuesday against Daquan Smith, 20, with interstate transmission of a threat, which carries up to a five-year prison sentence if he\u2019s convicted. Smith pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The alleged threat quoted in the indictment, which investigators said was called in from Smith\u2019s cellphone on Dec. 6, makes mention of a bomb on a boat \u201ccoming from the Bahamas that left two days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m letting you guys know now I have a bomb on the boat, and I want to blow it up,\u201d the indictment quoted Smith\u2019s alleged threat. A spokesperson for Disney Cruise Line referred questions to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

After authorities identified Smith as the caller, he and his mother spoke to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the matter. According to a report of the conversation filed in court, Smith told the agents he had called Disney Cruise Line, the last number he claims called him, after receiving spam calls throughout the day.<\/p>\n

News outlets did not report the alleged threat on the day prosecutors alleged it took place, and no evacuations were announced at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmith made the call out of frustration with spam phone calls but had no intention to cause harm to Disney Cruise Line or anyone else,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Smith was arrested July in Illinois and released on bond. He was in Chicago when prosecutors said he made the call, prompting his attorney to file a motion to dismiss the Orlando case and have it moved to Illinois.<\/p>\n

A document filed in his defense showed the Osceola County Sheriff\u2019s Office initially took on the investigation, but a detective told the FBI in February that it was \u201cunable to prosecute\u201d the case \u201cbecause it was outside their jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

His attorney is also seeking to suppress Smith\u2019s interview with the FBI, as it was not recorded and conducted without the agents reading his Miranda rights.<\/p>\n

A judge has yet to decide on either motion. Smith\u2019s next hearing is set to take place Oct. 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man from Chicago allegedly called in a hoax bomb threat to Disney Cruise Line late last year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[112,2659,28,29,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,109,2411,106],"class_list":["post-395201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-disney-world","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-theme-parks","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}