Chatham County man awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to making a bomb threat

SAVANNAH, GA:  A Chatham County man faces a possible five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to making a bomb threat.  

Mohammed Arafat Afaneh, 28, of Savannah, awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to False Information and Hoaxes, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The guilty plea subjects Afaneh to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison and substantial financial penalties, and up to three years of supervised release upon completion of any prison term.

There is no parole in the federal system.

“Bomb threats terrorize innocent people and needlessly burden first responders with identifying and investigating the reported danger,” said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “Such threats exacerbate tensions in a world already on edge; this defendant and any other person considering a similar course of conduct will face serious consequences for their actions.”

As described in court documents and testimony, on Nov. 17, 2023, Afaneh wrote and published a social media post on Facebook and Instagram stating, “They said there is a BOMB inside the WTOC Center on Chatham Parkway that will detonate at 3 p.m. It’s in one of the employees (sic) trunks. #Helpppppp!!!!! My friends are housed in the jail next door.”

Afaneh’s hoax resulted in evacuations of the office park – which houses the federal courthouse and a television station – and caused emergency responses from multiple agencies including the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Savannah Police Department, and the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators determined the threat was a hoax.

Afaneh was later located and arrested on unrelated state charges in Louisville, Kentucky, and remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals.

“We will not normalize violent threats in America, whether targeting businesses, federal courthouses, or average citizens,” said FBI Atlanta Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brian Ozden. “The FBI will pursue to the fullest extent of the law anyone who threatens violence.” 

The case was investigated by the FBI, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Darron J. Hubbard and L. Alexander Hamner.