Loose lips:
Plane passenger gets prison for joking about bomb
7.59 a.m. ET (1259 GMT) February 26, 1998
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - An airplane passenger received prison time for forcing an emergency landing because he joked about carrying explosives.
Richard Josephson, 38, of Elsmere, Del., pleaded guilty in December to endangering the safety of an aircraft. He was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison, as recommended by prosecutors in the plea bargain.
U.S. District Judge Walter Rice said there was "nothing funny at all'' about causing a plane to make an emergency landing. Rice also ordered Josephson to reimburse USAir the $40,653 spent to land and evacuated passengers.
According to court records, Josephson said, "Gee, be careful, that's where I keep my pipe bombs,'' as a flight attendant placed his bag in an overhead compartment during an October 1996 flight.
Josephson then took several pills and fell asleep. When he could not be awakened, the crew believed the bomb threat to be real.
The plane, en route from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, made an emergency landing at Dayton International Airport. Eight of the plane's 109 passengers were injured during evacuation.
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