A Maryland man heading to his gate at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport allegedly told a federal border officer he had bombs, then claimed moments later he was only joking. Deputies arrested him anyway, and now he’s facing a felony charge that Florida law will not let a judge simply wave away.<\/p>\n
Michael Ryan Knight, 31, of Westminster, Maryland, approached U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Brian Williamson inside Terminal 4 near Gate G5 on Tuesday night and said, \u201cI got bombs,\u201d according to an arrest report cited by WSVN<\/a>. Other passengers were standing nearby in the terminal when he made the statement, the station reports. Knight then told Williamson he was joking and tried to walk off toward Gate G2 to catch his flight, but the officer stopped him until Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to take him into custody, per the outlet’s account of the arrest report.<\/p>\n Officer Describes Extreme Intoxication Before the Remark<\/p>\n Williamson told investigators he had watched Knight appear extremely intoxicated and dancing through Terminal 4 before the bomb comment, the arrest report states. Knight later told a detective he’d had four alcoholic drinks while waiting for his flight, even as he claimed he never drinks, the same report notes. Knight was booked into the Broward County jail following his Tuesday night arrest, facing charges of making a false report concerning a bomb, explosive or weapon of mass destruction, along with disorderly intoxication in a public place, the station’s report states.<\/p>\n No Joking Matter Under Florida’s Bomb-Threat Statute<\/p>\n Florida law treats a false bomb report as a severe public-order crime no matter whether an actual device exists. Under Florida Statute 790.163<\/a>, making a false report concerning a bomb or explosive with intent to deceive is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The statute also strips judges of discretion to withhold adjudication or defer sentencing, meaning a conviction cannot simply be set aside, as Pumphrey Law<\/a> explains in its review of the statute’s mandatory terms.<\/p>\n The disorderly intoxication charge carries a far lighter maximum: under Florida Statute 856.011, disorderly intoxication in a public place or public conveyance is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in county jail and a $500 fine, according to legal guidance<\/a> on the statute. Public drunkenness alone isn’t a crime in Florida unless it comes with endangerment or a disturbance, the same source notes.<\/p>\n Federal Exposure at the International Gate<\/p>\n Because Knight’s statement was made directly to a federal CBP officer, he could also face federal scrutiny. Under 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 35, conveying false information regarding explosives at airport facilities carries criminal penalties of up to five years in federal prison for willful hoaxes, or a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for non-malicious false reports, according to the U.S. Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Separately, Federal Aviation Administration rules strictly prohibit airlines from allowing visibly intoxicated passengers to board flights, and the agency can levy administrative civil penalties of up to $43,658 per violation for disruptive passenger behavior, per the Federal Aviation Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Busy Airport With a Pattern of Threats<\/p>\n In July 2025, a 16-year-old was arrested at FLL after an alleged bomb-in-pocket comment, a statement defense witnesses maintained was a joke \u2014 a case in which a Broward judge made clear there is zero tolerance for such statements, regardless of intent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Maryland man heading to his gate at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport allegedly told a federal border officer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-434344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434344","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=434344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}