Fake bomb on Harvard campus leads to arrest

A Massachusetts citizen was arrested Tuesday after planting a fake bomb on Harvard University’s campus last month.

According to authorities, William Giordani was charged with aiding and abetting an extortionate threat, along with conspiracy.

On April 11, Mr. Giordani answered a Craigslist ad that offered $300 to deliver a package to a student at Harvard. The individual who posted the ad, allegedly named Nguyen Mihn, told Mr. Giordani to fill a tool bag with a small safe, wires and fireworks and deliver it to his son who he said was a Harvard student.

In the early afternoon on April 13, Harvard police received a call from a computer-generated voice telling them that three bombs had been placed around the university’s campus. The caller, who had the same number as Mr. Mihn, detailed the explosive power of the alleged bombs to authorities, claiming the devices could kill upward of 40 people.

The voice then told police they had 100 minutes to fulfill a “large bitcoin transaction,” and if he couldn’t confirm the transaction within that time, the bombs would be detonated.

The police received five more calls during that afternoon, all from the same number. The caller told authorities that one of the bombs was located in the Harvard Science Center Plaza, a popular spot for students and faculty. He told police the bomb was in a “black and red Husky tool bag.”

Just after 3 p.m., authorities spotted Mr. Giordani on webcam carrying the tool bag into the plaza.

Police quickly found the bag and evacuated the area and issued a campuswide alert informing students of the bomb threat. A remote detonation robot device was used for the safe destruction of the tool bag.

Police found the wires, safe and fireworks inside the bag. They also found a Home Depot sticker inside with the name Nguyen Mihn on it.

After identifying Mr. Giordani on camera footage, police arrested him Tuesday.

He told officers he knew that the man known as Nguyen Mihn was going to call in a bomb threat at Harvard. He also said that when he tried to get the $300 he was promised, Mr. Mihn told him he couldn’t meet and started “spouting off a bunch of racist things about Blacks and Jews.”

Police have not yet been able to identify who Nguyen Mihn is or if he is a real person.

Mr. Giordani is set to appear in court May 5. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years.