Hudson County Man Sentenced to Five Years’ Probation for Making Hoax Bomb Threat to City of Passaic
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 18, 2012 |
NEWARK, NJ—A Hudson County, New Jersey man was sentenced today to five years of probation for making a hoax bomb threat to the City of Passaic, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Caesar Canchucaja, 31, of Kearny, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler to an information charging him with knowingly providing false information indicating that damage by means of an explosive would take place. Judge Chesler imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Canchucaja called the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness on November 24, 2011—Thanksgiving Day—falsely identifying another individual as an associate of an alleged New York City bomb plotter and falsely stating that the individual was planning to blow something up in the city of Passaic at approximately 5 p.m. that day. No explosive devices were discovered.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents with the FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward; the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness; and the Passaic Police Department with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce M. Malliet of the U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark.