Westfield woman sentenced for Boston Children’s Hospital hoax bomb threat

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – A Westfield woman has been sentenced in connection to a hoax bomb threat at the Boston Children’s Hospital.

According to the Department of Justice in Boston, 37-year-old Catherine Leavy of Westfield was arrested at her home and authorities recovered a phone believed to be used to make the bomb threat in August 2022.

According to charging documents, federal agents began to monitor threats made against the hospital and its employees in August 2022. On August 30, 2022, the children’s hospital received a bomb threat over the phone, where the caller allegedly said, “There is a bomb on the way to the hospital, you better evacuate everybody you sickos.”

The bomb threat caused the Boston Children’s Hospital to lock down and a bomb squad to search the area. No explosives were found in the hospital. Records obtained by law enforcement allegedly indicated the phone number was in Leavy’s name and that it pinged off a cell tower near her home in Westfield at the time the bomb threat was made.

Leavy’s motive is unclear but Attorney Rollins said the hospital has been under attack because it is home to the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the United States.

Leavy pleaded guilty to one count of making a false bomb threat and one count of intentionally conveying false or misleading information that a bomb was on the way to Boston Children’s Hospital. She was sentenced Monday to three years’ probation.

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