Florida man guilty of bomb threats at Scott Air Force Base, stalking female airman

A federal judge in East St. Louis sentenced a Florida man to seven years and three months in prison after he used social media to make a bomb threat at Scott Air Force Base and cyberstalked an active duty Air Force member.

DeAyre M. Jones, 32, of Land O’ Lakes, Florida, pleaded guilty in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois to one count of interstate communication with threat to injure, one count of cyberstalking and one count of threatening and conveying false information concerning use of fire or an explosive.

According to court documents, Jones used multiple fake Facebook profiles to accuse a woman, with whom he previously had a personal relationship, of having a bomb and tracker attached to her car at Scott Air Force Base in September 2022.

Court records describe one instance in which Jones admitted setting up a false profile in the name of April Jones and posting to the Scott Air Force Base Facebook account: “hey do anybody know (name redacted) she have a bomb on her car she go to Scott’s Air Force base the bomb and tracker on her car so be careful.”

On another occasion on Aug. 31, 2022, using the name Ricco Savage, Jones sent an instant message to the female airman threatening to shoot her in the face and “burn up” her grandpa. He also told her he had poured gasoline around her grandmother’s house, the court records say.

Other messages posted under other under bogus accounts, Jones threatened other members of the airman’s family, stated he hoped she got killed in a car accident and used vulgar and “sexually explicit” language, the court records state.

After detecting the threat, base officials dispatched an explosive detection canine and the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team to search the suspected vehicle and surrounding lot, but did not find anything that concerned them, court records state.

The victim identified Jones as the potential suspect, and investigation revealed that he had created multiple fake Facebook profiles to harass the victim and make several bomb threats to the base.

In addition, Jones admitted to sending threatening and harassing messages to the victim and other base officials from August through December 2022.

In a statement, FBI Special Agent Christopher Johnson derided hoax threats because of their drain on law enforcement resources and tax dollars and because of their risk to public safety.

“The defendant intentionally disrupted operations at Scott Air Force Base to make a bomb threat and send harassing messages to base officials,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “Luckily, this incident was a false alarm, but our national security and the Air Force community depend on uninterrupted service at the base. I’m grateful to the investigators for their efforts to hold this offender accountable.”

The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the FBI Springfield Field Office contributed to the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Carraway prosecuted the case.