The FBI has arrested a Westfield, Massachusetts woman who now faces federal charges for making a “hoax” bomb threat over the phone to Children’s Hospital on Aug. 30.
The threat came after weeks of harassment resulting from an online campaign of transphobic misinformation that’s led to a barrage of similar threats targeting Boston Children’s Hospital doctors and staff who care for transgender kids. And more threats followed this month.
“The attacks against the hospital began when far-right provocateur and transphobe Chaya Raichik, who runs the Twitter account LibsOfTikTok, unleashed her more than 1.3 million followers on posting information about the hospital and encouraging anti-LGBTQ+ sympathizers to aim at the institution,” according to The Advocate.
Reports the Boston Globe:
Catherine Leavy, 37, was arrested Thursday morning at her home without incident, officials said. She appeared before a US magistrate judge and is being held until a detention hearing in federal court on Friday.
She is charged with one count of making a false telephonic bomb threat in connection with an Aug. 30 call to the hospital. No bomb was ever found.
“This alleged conduct is disturbing to say the least,” said US Attorney Rachael Rollins. “Bomb hoaxes cause fear, panic and a diversion of resources that have real impact on our communities. The people that work at Children’s Hospital and the parents that bring their loved ones to Children’s Hospital are under enough stress.”
Rollins said the caller told a hospital operator, in part, “There is a bomb on the way to the hospital. You better evacuate everybody, you sickos.”
Authorities have said that there was another threat on Sept. 9.
Leavy is only charged with making the Aug. 30 threat, but “we continue looking, we continue searching,” Rollins said.
“While I cannot comment further on the alleged motive of this case, I want to say, generally, that health care providers who support and offer care to gender-diverse and transgender individuals and their families deserve to do so without fear,” she said.
Read the complete Boston Globe story here.
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