Sacramento Man Pleads Guilty to Bomb Threat

SACRAMENTO, CA—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that William Berumen, 40, of Sacramento, pled guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Edward J. Garcia to one count of willfully making a bomb threat.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Marshals Service. Assistant United States Attorney Jared Dolan is prosecuting the case.

According to court documents, on October 29, 2009, Berumen left three threatening phone messages with the Sacramento Office of the Federal Defender. The first said, “Hello, you know tomorrow, ‘bout 11 o’clock it’ll be a bomb and it’s gonna explode, kill everybody in that building. So if you wanna die …” The other two messages were substantially similar in nature. On January 20, 2010, Berumen again called the Office of the Federal Defender. He spoke with a receptionist, told her that there was a bomb in the building, and asked if she wanted to die. Officials evacuated the office in response to the threats on both October 29 and January 20.

Berumen is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Garcia on March 25, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.