News Releases
DEFENDANT INDICTED FOR MAKING BOMB THREATS TO TURNER FIELD
October 27, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Atlanta Field Office, announce that DANTE M. SUGUITAN, 38, of San Jose, California, was indicted late yesterday by a federal grand jury for making telephone bomb threats to Turner Field in Atlanta. According to Nahmias, the indictment, and the criminal complaint filed in this case:
On August 10, 2005, and August 11, 2005, employees of Turner Field, the home venue for the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team in Atlanta, received a series of telephone bomb threats. The caller stated that there were bombs placed inside the park set to explode at different times while the Atlanta Braves were playing against the San Francisco Giants. The situation was addressed by Turner Field Security, the Atlanta Police Department, and the FBI, with heightened security measures taken throughout the remaining games of the series.
Subsequent investigation identified the caller’s telephone number and subscriber as DANTE M. SUGUITAN. On October 14, 2005, an arrest warrant was issued for SUGUITAN based on a criminal complaint filed in the Northern District of Georgia, for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 844(e), making bomb threats by means of a telephone, an instrument of interstate commerce. On October 26, 2005, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging SUGUITAN with the offense.
SUGUITAN had been held on unrelated charges by the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections in San Jose, California. It is expected that SUGUITAN will be transferred into the custody of the U.S. Marshals in Atlanta following his initial appearance before a federal magistrate in the Northern District of California.
United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of the case: “We have no tolerance for false bomb threats, which divert resources from the very real terrorist threats that exist.”
For further information and details, please contact David E. Nahmias (pronounced NAH-me-us) United States Attorney, or F. Gentry Shelnutt, Criminal Chief, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.