FBI arrests Peru man for sending 150+ fake bomb threats to US public places after school girls refused to send him nudes

A peruvian man has been arrested for making more than 150 fake bomb threats to schools, synagogues, and other public places in the United States reportedly after teenage girls refused to send him nudes.

The accused Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos, a 33-year-old website developer, was taken into custody by the authorities in Lima, Peru, on Tuesday, according to the US Justice Department.

Nunez Santos is accused of sending these threats earlier this month, causing panic and disruptions.

He pretended to be a teenage boy named “Lucas” and used an online gaming platform to communicate with teenage girls. Prosecutors say that he asked at least two of them, one of whom was 15 years old, for inappropriate photos and threatened to bomb their schools when they refused.

The FBI started receiving reports of these threats on September 15th, targeting various public places in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona, and Alaska. During the Jewish New Year holiday, Rosh Hashana, threats were sent to at least three synagogues in New York, one of which warned of pipe bombs in the building that would explode soon, putting many innocent lives at risk.

Two days later, schools in Pennsylvania received threats, leading to the evacuation of over 1,100 students across 20 different schools. Airports, hospitals, and even a shopping mall were also targeted. These emails forced the police to take action, schools to evacuate and close, flights to be delayed, and a hospital to go into lockdown.

Investigators managed to trace the emails, phone numbers, and IP addresses associated with the bomb threats back to Nunez Santos’ work email, according to prosecutors.

US Attorney Damian Williams stated, “The defendant’s continuous false bomb threats led to an immediate response from federal and state authorities, diverting crucial law enforcement and public safety resources, and causing fear in hundreds of communities across the country. The defendant allegedly engaged in this abhorrent and socially damaging behavior as a misguided retaliation against teenage girls who refused his requests for explicit photos.”

On Thursday, five charges were revealed against Nunez Santos, including sending threatening messages, creating false alarms, attempting to exploit a child sexually, and attempting to obtain child pornography. Court documents did not list a lawyer for Nunez Santos.