Two Men Charged With Separate Hoax Threats

Two area men are charged in separate indictments returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Sacramento with making hoax threats against an airline and an American embassy.

Apun Mahapatra, who lives in North Natomas, is charged with an Internet hoax threat against an international Delta Airlines flight and with threatening to destroy the aircraft. He faces a maximum five years in prison on each court.

Carlos Ramos, who lives in Dixon, is charged with an Internet hoax threat against the U.S. Embassy in Rome and with threatening to destroy the building with explosives. He faces a maximum five years on the hoax count and 10 years on the explosives count.

The charges were brought under a 2004 law enacted after investigation of several anthrax hoaxes, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner. He said there is no evidence the two hoaxes are related, or that the defendants are acquainted.

Mahapatra, 31, is accused in the indictment of contacting a Delta online operator through the airline’s Website on May 1 and delivering a message that a flight later that day from Mumbai, India, to Atlanta should be cancelled because of a “hijack” and “bomb blast.”

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Mahapatra said that at the time he was “disturbed” with his ex-wife, who was on the flight.

“I have apologized to the FBI and the airline,” he said. Mumbai is a port city on the Arabian Sea. Ramos, 22, is accused in the second indictment of sending an e-mail on Oct. 3 to the embassy in Rome stating, “There’s going to be a lot of dead people when the building explodes.”

Ramos said in a telephone interview that FBI agents came to his house. “I didn’t know what they were talking about,” he said, “because I didn’t really do any of that stuff. They took my computer away from me and then they brought it back.”

The threats caused additional security measures on the Delta flight and at the embassy, the indictments say.