Mich. Man Who Was ‘Upset’ Girlfriend Went on Cruise Without Him Sentenced to Prison for Sending Ship She Was on ‘False Bomb Threat’
A Michigan man who carried out a “bomb hoax” on a cruise ship last year has been sentenced to prison.
Joshua Lowe, 19, was sentenced to eight months in prison on Monday, April 16, several months after he was indicted on criminal charges by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Michigan, according to reporting from Associated Press.
“Anyone making a bomb threat should expect to be taken at his word. Fortunately, this particular hoax did not result in physical injury,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said in a court filing obtained by AP.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Michigan, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the incident.
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According to a press release from the district attorney’s office, Lowe was charged with “making a false bomb threat” after he sent an email to Carnival Cruise Lines in January 2024. It read: “Hey, I think someone might have a bomb on your sunrise cruise ship.”
The email was received after the cruise set sail from Miami toward Jamaica as part of a Caribbean cruise. The message prompted the ship’s personnel to “individually” search “over a thousand staterooms.” Carnival also alerted the U.S. Coast Guard and Jamaican authorities; the latter “escorted the ship to port.”
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Kessler said, per a statement to AP, that FBI agents were able to trace the email address back to Lowe, who had been “living with his girlfriend’s family” at the time.
“Lowe admitted he sent the message because he was upset that the family went on the cruise while leaving him behind to care for their pets,” Kessler said.
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The Carnival Sunrise cruise ship sails on the Hudson River after an afternoon thunderstorm passed over lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on May 23, 2019 as seen from Hoboken, New Jersey.
Lowe apologized for committing the crime in a letter to U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney, AP reported. “This is all my fault and take full responsibility,” he wrote.
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In addition to his prison sentence, he “will be required to pay restitution for expenses associated with the hoax,” the district attorney’s office said.
“Bomb threats are not a laughing matter and are extremely irresponsible,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan, said in the district attorney’s office press release.
“When individuals make false hoax threats, they divert critical law enforcement resources and spread unnecessary fear. The FBI takes all threats to life seriously and will ensure that those who resort to this kind of intimidation face the appropriate consequences,” Gibson added.
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