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Subscribe to RSSThe FBI is looking into motive behind a plane hoax on Thursday that forced a US Airways flight to turn around and head back to the airport in Philadelphia. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Be careful of what pictures of your ex you put on Facebook.
The boyfriend of Christopher Shell's ex-girlfriend has been charged with making Thursday's hoax phone call that forced a US Airways flight to return to the Philadelphia airport. Shell is the passenger who was removed at gunpoint by federal agents, after a caller falsely claimed he was carrying liquid explosives.
Kenneth W. Smith, Jr, 26, of Philadelphia, has been charged with making a hoax threat. He'll appear in court at 1:30 p.m.
The charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Court documents say Smith admitted yesterday that he got up Thursday, walked to a pay phone, and made the call to Philadelphia Airport police. His motive, according to investigators, "was to avenge (Shell's) ex-girlfriend" after Shell posted a compromising picture of her on Facebook.
Shell gave investigators Smith's name after agents asked him who might have made the call. Text messages on Shell's cell phone included "recent hostile messages exchanged" between Shell and his ex about her relationship with Smith, investigators said. Shell told the FBI where to find Smith.
US Airways Flight 1267 was en route to Dallas-Fort Worth when law enforcement officials were tipped off to a possible suspicious item on board. The jet returned to Philadelphia International shortly before 9 a.m. ET out of a "abundance of caution," an airline spokesman said Thursday.
US Airways rebooked passengers on later flights.
In yet another wrinkle, when Shell arrived to Dallas late Thursday, he was arrested by local police.
He was wanted on several existing warrants in Texas for offenses having nothing to do with the hoax. When he became famous Thursday because of the plane hoax, and police in Texas discovered he was coming their way, they prepared to meet him at the airport and take him into custody on unfinished business.
Federal officials were not certain of the nature of the existing warrants.
The cost of the hoax will cost US Airways "upwards of tens of thousands of dollars in direct and indirect costs," the airline said.
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He should be made to pay for the cost of the aircraft diverting, the cost of the law enforcement response, the cost to the passengers for being diverted and missing connections, meetings, etc., and then he should be banned from flying for life.
I agree - he is an idiot. Wonder if the girlfriend will stand by him, of so she is an idiot also.
she should be charged as well if she had anything to do with this.
I'm confused? Who is Shell, the ex-gf and Smith??? This is a horrible soap opera!
Agreed kimposibl...by 3rd paragraph I felt same thing, but wasn't about to give this junk a 2nd read..lol.
Just trying to distract my mind from 'news as usual'..lol.
wow, this was one big fail all around.
He should get the max 10 years and be used as an example. Televise his sentence for others to see. He will be the new girlfriend in any case as this butthole will get time.
She let her ex take "compromising " pictures of her. Her idiocy is pretty well established.
She knows how to pick em doesn't she?
First a D-bag with outstanding warrants... then moved on to a mental midget who called in a bomb hoax. Let us pray that all parties involved do not reproduce.
You people don't follow, I think. My understanding is that:
1) Shell was the man on the plane, the intended victim of the hoax
2) Shell had a girlfriend, and broke up with her. She is known as "ex girlfriend."
3) Shell, at the time he was with his girlfriend, took naked photos of her
4) After the breakup, Shell posted on facebook, the naked photos of his now ex girlfriend
5) The ex girlfriend, has an ex boyfriend, named Smith
6) The ex girlfriend was with Smith, then they broke up. The ex girlfriend then went with Shell. Then they broke up.
7) It was Smith who called in, to avenge the girl who had naked photos on facebook posted. He intended to victimize Shell, who posted the photos.
Not quite...stoopids...smith was not an ex but the current
Pretty good, except that Smith is the current boyfriend of Shell's ex-girlfriend, not another ex.
You don't follow so well yourself, "stoopids". The article says very plainly, "The boyfriend of Christopher Shell's ex-girlfriend...." Nowhere does is say that Smith (the accused prankster) is an ex-boyfriend.
JustOneVote, Jon, and Tom. You will see that I am correct eventually. Just give it some time....no matter how pretty she is, if she can talk, he will get tired of it...
Ok, you guys are right, but I think the article was updated; it wasn't as clear when I read it the first time. Could also be that the tequila is wearing off.
why fly?
If you go to a payphone, make a false claim to police, get the FBI involved, cost major companies thousands and thousands of dollars, get an innocent man arrested for said false claim, you go to jail. Freaking idiot! Hope he has fun in the slammer while his wonderful girlfriend moves on to the next one.
At least share the pics!
Crazy and lack of emotional self control go hand in hand.
Sometimes I don't know who is crazier here at Newsvine; the people in the articles or the emotional replies by posters. Which came first; the exploiters or the exploited?
Sounds like 2 fewer morons walking the street.
This was a confusing little article. My take -- Girl dated loser #1, Shell. He was the guy removed from the plane, even though he didn't have explosives. However, he is wanted on unrelated charges and has been taken into custody in Texas.
Girl's current love-of-her-life is loser #2, who called in the hoax, Smith.
Smith is under arrest and may never again see the light of day, since the penalty for his stupidity is up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. No one this stupid will make it in prison 10 years.
Loser #1, Shell, posted naughty pictures of the ex-gf on FB. Loser #2, Smith, decided to avenge his gf by calling in a hoax.
My hope -- gf can find a decent guy and never again drop trou for the camera. When will people learn? Nakie pictures are nothing but trouble.
What if on attempting to return the plane crashed...or something equally as bad that was a direct cause from the hoax. Then what? This bozo needs to made an example of...he put hundreds of lives at stake and luckily nothing bad happened.
Stupid boys will be stupid boys. I bet his girlfriend even told him that he was an idiot for doing something like that. Hope he gets a hefty fine or lots of community service to teach the idiot a lesson.
Wow. Billiant. How did this boyfriend, (Smith) of the ex-girlfriend think he would not be caught with a prank of this magnitude! I feel for this Christopher Shell. Now everyone knows his business....
If he was posting stuff on Facebook, everyone already knows his business anyway.
I am referring to the "outstanding" warrants. I don't think he posts those on Facebook....
The REAL money will be made on Jerry Springer and made for TV crapola TRUE STORY movie.
Think of all the endorsement contracts for peddling more crap to the masses...
we need to know more about these fascinating people... (sarcasm)
mmmmmmmmm.... money
I'm guessing the 'hits' for viewing that compromising photo are about to go way up too. By his boneheaded revenge, he has now drawn attention to the photo. It will probably be reposted all over the place. Just desserts for him & his idiot girlfriend.
You feel sorry for a guy who posts nasty pics on Facebook? A guy who did Something to warrant, warrants.
The whole lot sound like ignorant trash.
Where can I get these pictures? I'm an expert on what is and isn't compromising.. um yeah. That is all... ;)
This is the results of evil minded people in society. I hope the troes will learn this bitter medicationwill never ease their grieviances for the rest of their lives.. The real victim in the center of this diabolic plan is the girlfriend whom is being exposed on face book.
First class revengfull mr Smith will be the bitterbush medication drinker for playing God of revenge... and the face book naked picture publisher will have his portion with the texas authorities for his pending crimes.
Hope this guy sues the airlines, the airport police, and the fbi for the mistreatment in the way they handled him when escorted from the plane. Making him knell on the tarmac while his hands were handcuffed behind him is just a tad ridiculous. Could have taken him immediately by vehicle into a interrogation room. Hope that bozo that set him up gets the maximum.
Cops love to intimidate people, even before you are proven guilty, they treat you from beginning as guilty.
I seriously hate the way cops make people kneel before them...I hate it!!!!
Why should he sue the airlines and the police? They were just doing their job. If he sues anyone, it should be the man that made the prank call.
I have some police training and I understand the officer's actions. When they are dealing with a person in custody, they must render him or her unable to pose a threat. By handcuffing him and placing him on his knees, they removed any possibility that he could do anything harmfull- running and sudden moves were thus made impossible. You may feel it's overkill, but these officers have a responsibility to eliminate all- ALL- possibility that a suspect can cause harm. Police these days are not in a game- the danger to them as they perform their daily work is great.
They made him knell? That's ridiculous!
I would think that it was a good example for others contemplating similar acts----"Monkey see---hopefully, Monkey don't do!!"
The kneeling is practice for when he goes to prison, that will be a standard position for him each morning.
IXLR - Most people pray before they go to bed... and other things.
sam adams: I believe it was Smitty for whom the knell tolled...
hehe
pjam, "Most people" 1st, alot of assumptions, 2nd, who said anything about bed time? This is a future prisoner who will have to do anything anyone says.
Considering he already had outstanding warrants in Texas, he got what he deserved...ANY guy who posts naked pics of girls, especially ex girlfriends, should be drawn and quartered...NO sympathy for that guy whatsoever
Portia...picture posting bitterness from experience maybe? You have no clue what happened in the relationship to make him do it. How do you know she did not do anything to provoke him doing that in the first place. And what?...he deserved it b/c he had warrants?...those could be from outstanding parking tickets lady...warrants he might not have known he even had (like if the tix were accumulated by friends using his car, and them ripping the tix while not telling him). People's lack of rational thoughts is just unreal these days.
Making a suspect kneel is to make it all but impossible to for them to spring at officers to attack. They knew he was coming and chances are they knew if he had a history of violence too.
I can't think of a single justifiable reason for posting pics like that.
For those of you who think the police were out of line or trying to intimidate this guy, may I suggest that you pay a visit on your local police or state police and see if they have a ride along program. Spend a couple of days with these guys, talking to them, asking them about their training and why they do things like this. Once you've done that, let's see if you still want to shoot your mouth off about something you have no knowledge about?
Sounds like both these guys are fine, upstanding citizens.
And the girlfriend is obviously a class act!
Suspect all 3 related.
to far north for that!
They sould have posted the girl friend's name. It looks like she'll be looking for a new boy friend and all should be advised that this girl has some bad carma.
I'm sure this dumb-ass felt like he was really going to get back at the ex-boyfriend. Now they're both going to end up in the slammer.
I think it all comes down to the girl - she has really bad taste in men.
It never pays to make threatening phone calls these days. You'd have to be an idiot not to know that the FBI and Homeland Security take these things quite seriously..
jus' sayin'
that's exactly what i was thinking - what a dumba$$!
Didn't Shell make the call from a phone booth? I'd be curious to know how the call was traced to him, or if perhaps it was Smith who gave some names of people who might wish him ill.
Absolutely.
Tell that also to all the bitter-divorce spouses out there who call their divorced spouse's name into the No-Fly list...
And if you don't like your neighbor's music, calling Homeland Security to report them as an 'illegal'...
This article is useless without the photo.
I agree, Reaper. The girlfriend pics should be posted for our assessment.
What a complete dumbass.... you would think by 26 you're smart enough to say "Wouldn't it be funny if I called the airlines and told them he has liquid explosives...that'd be funny.....but of course I would never do something so irrsponsible and stupid". Guess not! ugh.
Hope they throw him in jail for a while. Then go after all his assets to repay the airline. Probably doesn't have much, though, brilliant thinker that he appears to be.
What a feckin' moron.
Nice -- now the "compromising picture" that got Smith so riled up will get all the more attention because of his actions.
Well done, Mr. Smith -- that'll teach Shell a lesson (and lose you a girlfriend).
What was that saying-----"That males have only enough blood to operate one of their two heads at any one time"---I guess in this idiots case, the blood never did rise to his brain---!!!
How old are these people? How sad that we can be so stupid when it comes resentments and anger. We all do stupid things in our lives, and some things we may wish we had done differently ( I know that I have a few). Can you imagine, this guy may do 10 years in prison and be fined $250,000., and maybe more for how this effected so many others. With all that has gone on in recent years as far as Homeland Security, how could you NOT know that this might be a bad idea? I was very sad to hear that this happened at all.
I'm glad that I don't know any of them.
What was she thinking when she allowed compromising photos to be taken in the first place? Once one allows such things to happen they should be well aware that the photos will probably end up on-line somewhere, especially when she dates morons who post things to facebook.
I hope the new boyfriend gets the 10 years and the $250,000.00 fine. He should also have to compensate all parties involved for their inconvenience and the fear factor.
The old boyfriend is an idiot and not a very honorable guy for posting the photos and trying to escape his warrants.
Looks like the only one not headed to the pokey is the girl. She should have to get a "stay away" tattoo.
Gene pool seems to be really shallow with those involved... Did he really think he could call something like this in and it wouldn't be found out??
Don't be surprised--------"He really did!!!"
Typical liberal, never thinking of unintended consequences
He was returning to Texas, so that should tell you something.
Wally I knew if I read far enough I would find one idiot that would bring out the liberal or conservative in this article. How do you know if he was republican or democrat.
What, like getting into TWO WARS and then CUTTING taxes?
Wonder what happens to the deficit then?
I don't know, but OBAMA is spending it all!
with better planning you can always wreck havoc on air travel in this country without getting caught.... thanks osama! they won, you lose, TSA is osama's dog, still will bite your ass even after he's dead a thousand years.
"Stupid is as stupid does" - Forrest Gump
Going to avenge the new girlfriend from the ex...
The Bad News - I hope that she was worth it, cause you are going to be asking her to wait for you for another 10 years, not very likely...
The Good News - You will be somebody's new girlfriend when you get to prison... ;-)
Duh...Stupid is as Stupid does!!
Smith should have to repay all costs for this.
I like to see the compromising pictures that sparked the whole thing......anyone else? LOL!
Judging by the men she chooses, no--she's probably a skank.
Astonishingly enough, even complete dumassets manage to pull hotties!
Please send the pictures!!!!! LOL!
I can't wait till barry get reelected in Nov so that this under 30 crowd has something more to do than facebook, text etc. Oh you forgot about the civilian "army" he mentioned in 2008, I didn't and neither did he. Boy those FEMA camp out in the middle of no where, well your not going to like them very much.
ARMY1971:
While I agree with you about being troubled by the direction wee currently heading, I will say that I don't believe it's President Obama's fault.
Ask yourself who gains the most from indefinite detention? What organization built those FEMA camps in each state? where did the money come from, and where will the money to hold those detainees go?
when Homeland Security was founded in 2002 their operating budget was $49 million, Last year it was somewhere between $58-98 billion. That's a huge jump.
It started with the 'illegals'. For each person detained, Homeland Security asks Congress for $141 per person per night--$51,000 a year total. Then they subcontract the detainee out to a private, for-profit deportation camp for $98 a night:that's roughly $35,000 a year. Homeland Security keeps that extra $15,000, and they seize the assets of those being detained/deported--houses, cars, bank accounts, jewelry, etc. With that much money coming in, they'd put in place safeguards to make sure it kept coming in...
They've been getting bigger--they've been steadily adding other government bureaus under their umbrella; CBP, INC, USCIS, USCG, FEMA, the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the National Communications Center, the National Cyber Security center...have you bought a new DVD lately? You know at the beginning when they display the anti-piracy warning? that used to have the FBI's logo--now it has the FBI and Homeland security's logos.
The Secret Service, who bodyguards the President and his family, used to be a branch of the Treasury. Now they're a part of Homeland Security. When President Obama first spoke about the NDAA for FY2012 (indefinite detention without charge or trial for anyone suspected of terrorism) last year, he said he was not going to sign it. On Dec 31, 2011, he signed it quietly. Since the two people who introduced the controversial portions of the NDAA were part of the Homeland Security Oversight Committee, do you think that the President was going to set himself against something that DHS wanted when a branch of that division is responsible for safeguarding his wife and children? Especially given what we know lately about the behavior of some of those Secret Service agents...
You forgot your meds...please take them, the intarwebz can't handle that much duuuuuuhhhhhhh.