Chatham County man could face five years for bomb hoax

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — A Chatham County man could face a five-year prison sentence after he pled guilty to making a bomb threat.

Mohammed Arafat Afaneh, 28, of Savannah, is waiting for sentencing after pleading guilty to False Information and Hoaxes, Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia said in a press release.

The guilty plea means that Afaneh could face up to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison and substantial financial penalties, and up to three years of supervised release upon completion of any prison term, according to the press release.

There is no parole in the federal system, so Afaneh will not have parole as an option.

“Bomb threats terrorize innocent people and needlessly burden first responders with identifying and investigating the reported danger,” Steinberg said in the release. “Such threats exacerbate tensions in a world already on edge; this defendant and any other person considering a similar course of conduct will face serious consequences for their actions.”

According to the press release, the court documents and testimony show that, on Nov. 17, 2023, Afaneh wrote and published a social media post on Facebook and Instagram stating, “They said there is a BOMB inside the WTOC Center on Chatham Parkway that will detonate at 3 p.m. It’s in one of the employees (sic) trunks. #Helpppppp!!!!! My friends are housed in the jail next door.”

Afaneh’s hoax resulted in evacuations of the office park which houses the federal courthouse and a television station and caused emergency responses from multiple agencies including the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Savannah Police Department and the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, the press release said.

Investigators determined the threat was a hoax and Afaneh was later located and arrested on unrelated state charges in Louisville, Kentucky according to the press release. The release continued, saying that he was remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals.

“We will not normalize violent threats in America, whether targeting businesses, federal courthouses, or average citizens,” said FBI Atlanta Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brian Ozden. “The FBI will pursue to the fullest extent of the law anyone who threatens violence.”

The press release said that case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Darron J. Hubbard and L. Alexander Hamner.