CINCINNATI (LAWFUEL) – A federal grand jury here today returned a nine-count indictment against Frederick D. Purvis, age 42, of Hamilton, charging him with making bomb threats against Cincinnati landmarks and the Denver International Airport. Purvis is also charged with threatening the life of the President of the United States and a radio personality in Cincinnati.
Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced the indictment today.
The indictment charges Purvis with seven counts of making bomb threats over the Internet. Each count is punishable by up to ten years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. The indictment alleges two counts of making threatening communications, each count punishable by up to five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
Purvis allegedly made the threats between October 16 and November 13 by sending messages over the Internet to media, FBI and U.S. Treasury Department Websites. Members of the Cincinnati and Covington, Ky. Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) arrested Purvis at an Erlanger, Kentucky motel on November 20, 2008 without incident. Purvis has been in custody since his arrest.
Lockhart commended the cooperative investigation by the agents and officers of the FBI, Cincinnati Police Department, West Chester Police Department, the U.S. Air Marshals, Hamilton Police Department, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, Butler County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Secret Service, Kentucky State Police, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport Police, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
An indictment is merely an accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
