Corpus Resident Sentenced to Prison for Making Bomb Threats to the CCAD

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX—Henry L. Simmons, 24, of Corpus Christi, convicted by a Corpus Christi jury in March 2010 of 13 counts of willfully using a cellular telephone or other instrument of interstate or foreign commerce in making bomb threats to the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD), has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution to the CCAD, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

United States District Court Judge Janis Graham Jack sentenced Simmons to 10 years in federal prison as to each count of conviction to be served concurrently to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. In addition, based upon evidence presented by the government during trial regarding the costs associated with the evacuation of employees and other actions taken by CCAD in response to the bomb threats, Judge Jack ordered Simmons to pay restitution to the CCAD in the amount of $210,000.

Simmons was arrested on Oct. 1, 2009, in Kingsville, Texas, by FBI agents and officers of the Kingsville Police Department following the filing of the criminal complaint charging him with making a threat to damage or destroy a building by means of explosive on or about Sept. 30, 2009. The original indictment, returned Oct. 28, 2009, charged Simmons with one count, but was later superseded on Dec. 23, 2009, when an additional 13 counts of making bomb threats to the CCAD were added.

During trial in March, the jury heard testimony about the numerous telephone calls made by Simmons beginning in July 2009 to various buildings located within the CCAD requesting to speak to his former girlfriend. The defendant, at times, identified himself as Jonathan Glenn, John Randall, and at other times as “Henry.” These phone calls increased in number, to the point that personnel of the CCAD had to disconnect some of their telephones in order to conduct their business. These phones calls intensified and on Sept. 30, 2009, and Oct. 1, 2009, the defendant made several telephone calls uttering statements such as “a bomb will detonate in 25 minutes” or “there is a bomb in the L3 trailer” or “there is a bomb in the building, bitch, and it’s about to blow.” Approximately 857 phones calls were made to the CCAD from August 2009 through Oct. 1, 2009.

One of the bomb threat recordings was presented in court for the jury to hear as were other recorded conversations between Simmons and CCAD personnel. As a result of the bomb threats, the CCAD responded by conducting numerous evacuations of their employees, resulting in the loss of manpower hours and lost production.

In custody since his arrest, Simmons will remain in custody to serve his sentence.

The case was investigated by the FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Services and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elsa Salinas.