SkyWest flight attendant charged over fake bomb threat, admits earlier hoax as well

A SkyWest flight attendant is facing federal charges after allegedly inventing a story about a suspicious package onboard a SkyWest flight, a fabrication that led to an emergency landing and the evacuation of a North Dakota airport. According to an FBI affidavit, Justin Cox-Sever admitted that he stuffed a bag with towels, hid it in the back of the plane and before reporting that it was "making beeping noises."

SkyWest Flight 4770 was flying from Minneapolis when Cox-Sever said that he had seen a suspicious bag tucked under a seat near the rear of the aircraft. The 21-year-old alerted the flight deck, and crew members asked if any passenger could claim the bag. Cox-Sever told the crew that "the bag was beeping slowly for 15-20 seconds and then rapidly for 35-40 seconds." When the flight landed at Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport in Dickinson, North Dakota, the entire facility was evacuated, and air traffic to and from the airport was temporarily halted. Both the FBI and the Bismarck Police Bomb Squad were called to investigate.

When he was questioned by the FBI, Cox-Sever reportedly told the federal agents that he was the one who both planted and reported the bag, knowing that there was nothing dangerous inside. He was arrested and, on Monday, was in federal court where he was charged with reckless disregard for human life and communicating false information.

But North Dakota news station KXNews has reported that this is not Cox-Sever's first in-flight fabrication. In July, he reported seeing a bomb threat written on the lavatory wall of an American Airlines flight – operated by SkyWest – from Charlottesville, Virginia to Chicago. He originally told the FBI that he had been "extorted by a friend to 'bring down a plane' or his family would be harmed," but later recanted that story as well, admitting to agents that he had willingly written the message in the plane's bathroom.

In a statement to Road Warrior Voices, SkyWest spokesperson Marissa Snow said:

"We have fully supported the investigation into this matter and the individual is no longer employed at SkyWest. The safety and security of our customers and people are our top priority."

Cox-Sever has a preliminary hearing scheduled for October 12.