Man arrested after alleged bomb threat on United flight

Rony Alexander GomezAlberto was arrested after United Flight 2174 landed safely in New Orleans on November 9, following allegations that he claimed to have a bomb and tried to reach the cockpit. Jefferson Parish authorities took him into custody after the flight from Newark, New Jersey, arrived with 46 passengers and six crew members aboard. United said law enforcement met the aircraft.

GomezAlberto, 34, was booked on charges including communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, according to local authorities. DHS separately referred to bomb-threat, terroristic-threat and disorderly-conduct offenses. The accounts do not establish that every offense cited by the department was a local charge. The allegations in the flight incident have not been proven in court.

The Department of Homeland Security said GomezAlberto was removed from the United States after encounters near El Indio, Texas, in September 2011, and Columbus, New Mexico, in October 2014. Border Patrol arrested him again in 2019 after an attempted entry near San Ysidro, California. DHS said an immigration judge ordered his release from ICE custody in January 2020 while removal proceedings continued,...