Former Northeastern University lab manager convicted of staging hoax explosion at Boston campus

A former lab supervisor at Northeastern College has been convicted of staging a hoax explosion on the Boston campus after which mendacity about what occurred to a federal agent.

Jason Duhaime, 46, from San Antonio, Texas, was convicted on three counts Friday by a federal jury. He faces as much as 5 years in jail and a superb of as much as $250,000 for every offense.

Two attorneys representing Duhamie withdrew from the case in January, courtroom paperwork present. A public defender who changed them couldn’t instantly be reached for remark Saturday.

Duhaime labored because the college’s new expertise supervisor and director of the Immersive Media Lab. In September 2022, he known as the college police to say he’d collected a number of packages from a mail space, together with two Pelican onerous plastic instances, and that when he opened one of many instances, it exploded and sharp objects flew out and injured his arms.

Duhaime’s 911 name sparked a significant response from regulation enforcement, who evacuated the realm and known as within the bomb squad.

He confirmed police a letter he instructed them he’d discovered contained in the case, which claimed the lab was making an attempt to get individuals to stay inside a digital actuality world and was secretly working with Fb founder Mark Zuckerberg and the U.S. authorities.

“Within the case you bought right this moment we may have planted explosives however not this time!!!” the notice learn, courtroom paperwork present. “Take discover!!! You will have 2 months to take operations down or else!!!!!”

However Duhaime’s story shortly unraveled, based on the FBI. They didn’t discover something within the instances and famous the letter seemed to be in pristine situation. The FBI mentioned Duhaime had superficial accidents to his arms, however no injury to his shirt sleeves. And when brokers searched Duhaime’s pc, they discovered a replica of the letter in a backup folder that he’d written a number of hours earlier than calling 911.

“Bomb hoaxes just like the one the defendant fabricated right here have actual life penalties. Communities are put in concern, regulation enforcement personnel are diverted from different necessary duties and there are important monetary repercussions,” Appearing U.S. Lawyer Joshua Levy mentioned in a press release. “As we expertise a wave of bomb hoaxes in faculties, homes of worship and different gathering locations, we’ll work intently with our native, state and federal companions to carry accountable anybody who tries to inject concern and misery into our group.”

Northeastern, a non-public college, has greater than 18,000 undergraduate college students and 22,000 graduate college students.

Duhaime is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 2.

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Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire.