Augusta man sentenced to prison for bomb scare at Social Security office

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – An Augusta man has been sentenced to Federal Prison for threatening to blow up the Social Security office.

39-year-old Keyon Tishaye Dickens has been sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading Guilty to Using a Telephone to Make a Threat to Injure a Person or Damage a Building by Explosives. He’ll also serve three years of supervised release once his term in prison is complete.

As described in court documents, Dickens received a notice in September 2023 that the Social Security Administration intended to recoup over-payments to his Supplemental Security Income from future SSI checks. He called the Social Security Administration office in Augusta to complain and stated, “I’m going to shoot the office up and I’m going to blow it up. I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do.”

Dickens later visited the office carrying a backpack and showed a note that read “I have a bomb” to a security officer. The officer notified the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, and the building was locked down and evacuated. No bomb was found, and Richmond County deputies took Dickens into custody.

“Americans should not have to fear for their lives simply for doing their jobs or going about their daily errands,” said Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Matthew Ploskunak of FBI Atlanta’s Augusta Resident Agency. “Thanks to the quick response by our local law enforcement partners, this case was investigated thoroughly and quickly brought to a successful conclusion.”