SEATTLE (AP) — A passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight from Atlanta to Seattle on Wednesday is accused of sounding a bomb threat that caused the pilots to land in Spokane, Wash. .
Documents filed in the United States District Court indicate that Brandon Scott, 38, faces a charge of false information and hoaxes, the Seattle Times reported.
After the plane took off on Wednesday afternoon, Scott gave a flight attendant a note saying he had ‘several pounds’ of improvised explosives in his carry-on and a detonator on him, according to court documents. .
Scott’s memo demanded the plane be redirected to “any other airport” and threatened to kill everyone on the plane if it landed in Seattle. The memo instructed the stewardess to alert the pilot and air traffic controllers but to keep the threat from others on the plane, according to the documents.
The note said he would proceed “peacefully” upon arrival at the rerouted destination, according to the court filing.
Upon arriving in Spokane, Scott was arrested, but a search by a bomb squad found no explosives, according to court documents.
Scott told investigators he made a false threat in hopes of being arrested because members of a powerful cartel were waiting in Seattle to kill him. No other details about his beliefs were included in the documents.
Scott is being held in the Spokane County Jail and faces up to five years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine if convicted. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney to comment on his behalf.