LIer charged in plane bomb-threat hoax

FBI agents have arrested a Lake Ronkonkoma woman for phoning in two bogus bomb threats to an Arizona airport "because she did not want her mother and brother flying around the anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorists attacks," according to court records.

Mary Purcell, 37, of 8 Gail Dr., Lake Ronkonkoma, told FBI agents who arrested her late Monday night that her brother, William Meyer, and mother, Margaret Meyer, were scheduled to fly on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary on Southwest Airlines Flight 2475 from Tucson, connecting in Baltimore to a flight to Long Island, and she wanted to prevent them from doing so, according to a complaint filed by an FBI agent.

Purcell's calls Saturday forced Tucson law enforcement officials to remove all the luggage from the plane, the complaint said. The officers, aided by nine K-9 units, searched the plane and the luggage, but no bomb was found, the complaint said. The passengers also were rescreened and security around the airport was increased, the complaint said.

Purcell was released on $200,000 bond Tuesday at her arraignment in U.S. District Court in Central Islip on a charge of calling in a false bomb threat. Her brother and mother signed the bond.

Purcell's attorney, Randi Chavis of Central Islip, said her client was currently on parole on a Suffolk County forgery conviction and had been receiving mental-health counseling.

Purcell, her brother and her mother all declined to comment, as did federal prosecutor John Durham.

If convicted, Purcell could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.