Autistic faux bomber indicted for more phone threats

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The Tel Aviv District Court issued a fresh batch of indictments against a young American-Israeli man who has already been convicted of hoaxing US Jewish community centers and other targets around the world with thousands of bomb threats, charging him Thursday with making additional threats from prison and for attempting to escape police custody.

The 20-year-old, M., whose full name is being withheld by a gag order in Israel, has been diagnosed with autism and also suffers from a brain tumor, which his parents say has further impacted his behavior. The Tel Aviv District Court acknowledged his medical condition, but concluded in its June conviction that M. was nevertheless responsible for his action

Two were to a pair of elementary schools in central Israel where staff who answered were informed that a bomb had been planted inside a backpack in the building and that a bloodbath was imminent, the cyber department of the Tel Aviv District Attorney alleged. The schools were evacuated and police along with sappers were called to the scene to search the premises for explosive devices that turned out to never have existed.

M. also allegedly placed a nearly identical call to an Eilat hotel, where he told a security guard who picked up the phone that a bomb had been planted somewhere inside by an employee of the hotel. The hotel was evacuated; a search of the building by authorities turned up nothing.

The Tel Aviv District Court also indicted M. for an alleged attempt to escape police custody following an examination at a Probation Service office in Ashkelon last June.

According to Thursday’s charges, M. put on four pairs of socks the morning of the incident to prevent the cuffs from tightening around his legs. After the exam he was placed back in a prison van to be transferred back to jail.

Shortly after the prison vehicle began its journey to Ramle’s Nitzan prison, M. managed to uncuff his legs and began to furiously kick the back door. The officers pulled over on Route 4 and opened the door to check on the inmate, at which point, the indictment alleged, M. attempted to jump out of the vehicle, but was blocked by the guards. M. was cuffed again, placed in a second vehicle, as the back door of the first had sustained significant damage, and transferred back to Nitzan.

M. was found guilty in June of hundreds of counts of extortion, publishing false information that caused panic, computer offenses, and money laundering, among other charges.

Authorities say he made thousands of threatening calls, mostly to community centers and schools in the US, from January to March 2017, using an online calling service that disguised his voice and allowed him to hide his identity. He also targeted hundreds of airlines and airports, malls, and police stations, in the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Britain, and tried to extort Republican State Senator Ernesto Lopez from Delaware.

His threats caused fighter jets to scramble, planes to dump fuel and make emergency landings, schools to evacuate, and numerous other chaotic consequences. In some cases, he allegedly threatened to execute children he claimed to be holding hostage.