Former Northeastern University employee gets prison time for staging campus bomb hoax

A judge sentenced a former Northeastern University employee who staged a bomb hoax on the campus in 2022 to one year and one day in federal prison Monday, authorities said.

Federal prosecutors requested that sentence in U.S. District Court in Boston for Jason Duhaime, 47, in a Jan. 9 sentencing memorandum, describing his conduct as “extremely disruptive and wasteful.” The sentencing comes after Duhaime pleaded not guilty and insisted that the bomb scare was not a hoax.

“Jason Duhaime apparently thought he could get away with staging a hoax explosion and lying to us about it, but this sentencing proves how wrong he was,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Duhaime was employed as the technology manager and director of Northeastern’s Immersive Media Lab when he staged the bomb hoax. On the evening of Sept. 13, 2022, Duhaime called campus police and claimed to be injured by sharp objects after opening a pressurized Pelican case inside the lab, prosecutors said. He also reported that the case contained an anonymous “violent note” which threatened to “destroy the lab.”

Investigators started pursuing Duhaime as a suspect after finding no evidence of an explosion or any objects like the ones he described in the lab. They also noted that there was “no physical damage” to the Pelican case, Duhaime’s shirt, or the letter mentioned in his report.

Investigators found a “word-for-word, electronic copy” of the letter stored in a backup folder on Duhaime’s computer, according to court documents. The rambling letter made several unfounded accusations that the university was working for Mark Zuckerberg and ended with threats that more aggressive action would be taken.

“In the case you got today we could have planted explosives but not this time!!!” the note stated. “Take notice!!! You have two months to take operations down or else!!!!! WE ARE WATCHING YOU.”

Investigators discovered that Duhaime created the letter just hours before he called campus police at approximately 7 p.m. to report the purported explosion, prosecutors.

Duhaime also reported about a second, unopened Pelican case, prompting additional responses from Boston Police Department’s bomb squad and several federal and state law enforcement agencies. Concerns about a second case prompted an evacuation of a portion of the Northeastern campus.

In the aftermath of that night, Duhaime repeatedly recounted his false version of the events to law enforcement, first responders, and the press. In an interview with The Boston Globe the day after the scare, Duhaime denied staging the events and insisted that he was the victim of a crime.

“They need to catch the guy that did this,” Duhaime said to the Globe.

Duhaime was arrested in San Antonio and charged Oct. 2, 2022. He was convicted by a federal jury in June 2024 of intentionally conveying false and misleading information related to an explosive device and making materially false statements to a federal law enforcement agent, prosecutors announced at the time.

Duhaime’s attorney, Scott Lauer, requested that his client be sentenced to time served and two years of supervised release, according to a Jan. 10 sentencing memorandum. Lauer cited Duhaime’s medical condition and lack of a prior criminal record as factors behind this request.

In the memorandum, Lauer described Duhaime as being in a declining state of health due to the development of a spinal abscess which required him to undergo “a major surgical procedure” and receive “extensive physical therapy.” Despite these efforts, Duhaime is now “largely disabled, lacking in strength and mobility,” Lauer wrote in the memorandum.

Beyond his physical health, Lauer also described the toll that the case has taken on Duhaime’s professional and personal life.

“Now a convicted felon, this case has resulted in not only the loss of a good job, but a career,” Lauer wrote. “It has depleted his life savings. Family members and friends have cut ties with him. And it has all unfolded under the glare of intense public scrutiny. The consequences to Mr. Duhaime for his conduct in this case have been profound and life-altering indeed.”

Despite Lauer’s request to adjust the sentence, United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy stood by the sentence.

“Bomb hoaxes are not a harmless act, they inflict fear, divert resources and put both first responders and the public at real risk as they race to the scene,” Levy said in Tuesday’s press release. “This sentence should send a clear message to everyone who engages in bomb threats and swatting incidents that you will be held accountable and that one phone call may land you in jail.”

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