The FBI captured a Washington, D.C., man accused of a series of disruptive bomb threats against Union Station, the D.C. Metrorail system and an area near the White House for his own amusement and entertainment.
The threats include a bomb hoax that shuttered Union Station and disrupted Amtrak and the region's transit train service in July.
James Cherry is charged with making false bomb threats and making threats against a railroad carrier. A judge will decide Thursday whether Cherry should remain in jail until his trial on the charges.
According to court filings and law enforcement officials, the FBI had been searching for Cherry in recent weeks. He was arrested Friday at a building along 7th Street SE in D.C.
According to prosecutors, Cherry phoned a bomb threat to 911 July 27, triggering an evacuation at Union Station and the delay of a dozen Amtrak, MARC and VRE trains. In their court filings, prosecutors said Cherry told a 911 operator, "There are eight bombs, eight bombs at Union Station set to go off."
Cherry made a separate hoax call July 25 claiming bombs were placed at a building "three blocks away" from 1818 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washington prosecutors said. In their court filings, prosecutors said that area of space includes the White House and the World Bank.
In filings to a federal judge, prosecutors said Cherry acknowledged also making a bomb threat against the D.C. Metrorail Orange Line station at McPherson Square.
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He allegedly made the threats from the threatened locations so he could watch the emergency response for his amusement.
In court filings, prosecutors said Cherry is a tow truck driver in the Georgetown area. They said they linked Cherry to a cellphone number suspected of being used to issue the threats. In their court filings, they said, "(Cherry) made the false bomb threats for his own personal entertainment, just to see the reaction."
Cherry's attorney said no one was harmed in the incidents, but a judge ordered Cherry jailed until trial to keep him off the phone.
