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Texas teen arrested after posting threat to blow up plane on Snapchat

August 15, 2019 7:21 am

Hector Fonseca, 17, was charged with making a terroristic threat after allegedly posting "time to blow up the plane" on Snapchat [Source: Harris County Sheriffs Office]

Authorities have charged a 17-year-old from Texas with making a terroristic threat after he allegedly posted on Snapchat about blowing up a plane before flying from Houston to Guatemala.

The 17-year-old, Hector Fernando Fonseca, posted messages on the app on Aug. 2, saying, “blown this s— up,” along with a photo of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and then “time to blow up the plane.” Both photo messages included a smiley face and bomb emoji, according to a charging document.

The threats were only discovered after Snapchat discovered the photos and tipped off the FBI National Threat Operations Center, the documents show.

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“Defendant, heretofore on or about August 3, 2019, did then and there unlawfully, threaten to commit an offense involving, namely, a Bombing upon George Bush Intercontinental Airport and aircraft located in Harris County, Texas with the intent to cause impairment and interruption of public transportation, place the public in fear of serious bodily injury, and place a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury,” the court document says.

Snapchat provided GPS coordinates for many of Fonseca’s previous posts in Humble, Texas, and FBI agents went to the location on Aug. 4, where they were directed to a friend of Fonseca. The friend, in the presence of his parents, even said he knew the reason the agents came to his home was due to Fonseca’s threatening posts, the charging document describes.