Feds: Hoax victim targeted because of compromising photos of ex
Federal authorities said today that a Philadelphia man who was the victim of a nasty airplane hoax was set up by his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend because he had posted compromising photos of his ex on Facebook.
Feds: Hoax victim targeted because of compromising photos of ex
Federal authorities said today that a Philadelphia man who was the victim of a nasty airplane hoax was set up by his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend because he had posted compromising photos of his ex on Facebook.
Police arrested Kenneth W. Smith Jr., 26, of Philadelphia, for calling police at the Philadelphia International Airport Thursday morning and reporting that a passenger by the name of Christopher Shell would attempt to board a Texas-bound flight with liquid explosives, court documents said.
Flight 1267 was recalled midair over Harrisburg and ordered to land in Philadelphia.
Shell was taken off the plane and not found to be in possession of any explosives.
During interviews with the FBI in Philadelphia, Shell told authorities he believed his ex-girlfriend and her new beau "Kenny" were behind the threat because he'd been exchanging hostile text messages with his ex and he and Smith had previous heated encounters.
After being cleared by authorities, Shell reboarded another flight to Texas. When his flight landed, Shell was arrested by authorities there on outstanding warrants.
According to the affidavit of probable cause against Smith, he and others decided to call in the threat to "avenge" the ex-girlfriend's honor because Shell had posted a compromising photo of the woman on Facebook.
When Smith placed the call to police early Thursday morning, he used the name "George Michaels" and gave a Frankford Avenue address, police said.
Shrewd Kenny, shrewd. How about confronting the dude one on one if you want to defend your girlfriend's "honor"? Give the Tonner a break. Seems like people are getting dumber by the minute.- Clearly, Kenneth Smith is a world class dope....and is about to get world class caliber federal charges and a MASSIVE bill to cover the cost of the jet fuel used during his brilliant hoax. This seems like quite the collection of knuckleheads.....— kelprod2-freemarket
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- Dumber by the femtosecond.— jp8899
- Any questions still left after facebook's plunge on Wall Street.........— Earl J
- Good journalism would include the photos, so the readers could contemplate the story's full context. And how many victims have "outstanding warrants?" This looks like a nest of low lives.— orange rhino
- Dayum, nice little gaggle of mutts there.— lumpy7
- Good going Kenny. Out to be a big hero for your new girlfriend. Look where it landed you, idiot. She's probably laughing at you right now. You're about to become Bubba's girlfriend, you fool.
— xpatphluphyan - HaHa, Mr. Dumb and Mr. Dumber. Have you checked out their Facebook pages. Didn't see any compromising photos but Shell seems like a jerk. Smith might be going away for a loooong time.— UncleJoe
- whats the girlfriends number? looks like she is going to be single again.....— noelcoward
- Let's see Shell was picked up on outstanding warrants in Texas. Kenny will be taking his mail in the big house for, let's say the next 8-10 years if he's lucky. And the girlfriend was smart enough to get hooked up with a pair of geniuses including an amateur photographer. Looks like the Philly chapter of Mensa will be down a few members for a while.— Claudio Vernight
- The Tonner's not sure noelcoward but he would tread carefully. This broad sounds like she's carrying around a slash that can make men do some crazy things. She might turn you out next.
- Thinking with the wrong heads!— Steelmanpa
- Overheard at the Reid wake: "We're gonna need more platters."— illsmith
- I do appreciate hunglikeaton's comments and commentary style.— TheLowDown
