Los Angeles:
A US man has been charged with giving false information and threats after saying he had a bomb in his backpack on a US domestic flight, triggering emergency procedures, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Mark Michael Bote, 23, appeared nervous and was shaking and "rocking back and forth" in his seat last Friday on a flight from Knoxville, Tennessee to Denver, Colorado.
"One passenger noticed Bote had his eyes closed .. A second passenger also noticed that Bote looked nervous, and that his eyes were glazed over," said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, John F Walsh.
The five crew and 136 passengers on board Frontier Airlines flight 601 were evacuated from the plane in a remote area of the tarmac at Denver International Airport after the security threat, ABC News reported.
Citing an affidavit, Walsh's office said: "When Bote took his seat he kept his backpack on. A flight attendant asked that he remove it. He put it under the seat in front of him, but would not let completely go of it.
"Later in the flight a flight attendant asked Bote if he was OK. He replied with the word 'bomb' and some other words the flight attendant couldn't make out," said a statement by Walsh's office.
A passenger who sat next to Bote said he mostly slept during the flight, but at one point awoke suddenly and said "Help me, help me." A flight attendant asked what was wrong, and Bote responded "There's a bomb. There's a bomb."
Eventually flight attendants managed to take his backpack away, and consulted with the pilot, who ordered bomb procedures to be implemented, including moving passengers and bags.
On investigation, another passenger said she was traveling with Bote, and he was a church group member and not feeling well.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents found that Bote thought someone was stalking him, and was holding on to the backpack because "he thought someone put a bomb in it because it felt heavier than it had previously."
If convicted he faces up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Mark Michael Bote, 23, appeared nervous and was shaking and "rocking back and forth" in his seat last Friday on a flight from Knoxville, Tennessee to Denver, Colorado.
"One passenger noticed Bote had his eyes closed .. A second passenger also noticed that Bote looked nervous, and that his eyes were glazed over," said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, John F Walsh.
The five crew and 136 passengers on board Frontier Airlines flight 601 were evacuated from the plane in a remote area of the tarmac at Denver International Airport after the security threat, ABC News reported.
Citing an affidavit, Walsh's office said: "When Bote took his seat he kept his backpack on. A flight attendant asked that he remove it. He put it under the seat in front of him, but would not let completely go of it.
"Later in the flight a flight attendant asked Bote if he was OK. He replied with the word 'bomb' and some other words the flight attendant couldn't make out," said a statement by Walsh's office.
A passenger who sat next to Bote said he mostly slept during the flight, but at one point awoke suddenly and said "Help me, help me." A flight attendant asked what was wrong, and Bote responded "There's a bomb. There's a bomb."
Eventually flight attendants managed to take his backpack away, and consulted with the pilot, who ordered bomb procedures to be implemented, including moving passengers and bags.
On investigation, another passenger said she was traveling with Bote, and he was a church group member and not feeling well.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents found that Bote thought someone was stalking him, and was holding on to the backpack because "he thought someone put a bomb in it because it felt heavier than it had previously."
If convicted he faces up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
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