Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Hector M. Pesquera, Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Bauer, Special Agent in Charge of the Transportation Security Administration Miami Field Office; and Carlos Alvarez, Director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, announced today that Joseph Carlton Hailey entered a guilty plea of one count of transmitting via the internet and telephone a false threat to destroy a building by means of explosives, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844(e). Hailey faces a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 24, 2004, before United States District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga.

Hailey admitted transmitting an e-mail message to the FBI via the internet stating that he had overheard an individual in Miami talking about blowing up the federal building in Baltimore, Maryland. This e-mail identified the alleged bomber by name, and was followed up hours later by an anonymous telephone call to the Miami-Dade Police Department at Miami International Airport in which the caller stated that the same individual named in the earlier e-mail message would be boarding a flight for Baltimore from Miami International Airport that morning carrying a bomb. After intense investigative efforts by FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force agents working with Miami-Dade Police and TSA investigators, the bomb threat was determined to be a hoax and Joseph Carlton Hailey was identified as both the sender of the e-mail and the anonymous caller.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Miami-Dade Police Department, the Transportation Security Administration and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Schlesinger.