News Releases
ATLANTA RESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO MAKING FALSE CLAIMS OF TERRORIST THREATS
March 25, 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, announce that NIA M. REED, 30, of Atlanta, Georgia, has entered a plea of guilty to two counts of having made false statements concerning alleged terrorist activity. According to David E. Nahmias:
On December 15, 2003, REED placed a telephone call to the Department of Aviation Security for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. In that call, REED falsely stated that a number of individuals were planning to travel from the United States of America to London, England for the purpose of retrieving information that would be used to facilitate attacks upon the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, Dallas, Texas, Washington, D.C., and California. In that call, REED further stated that the alleged plot had been in the planning stages for some period of time and was to be implemented upon the capture of Saddam Hussein, which had been announced on the previous day. During the subsequent FBI investigation of her charges, which were determined to be false, REED was questioned by the FBI and falsely stated to the FBI that she had not placed the call to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport that falsely alleged a terrorist threat which prompted the FBI investigation.
United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, "The U.S. Justice Department will not tolerate false reports of terrorism that divert resources from the investigation of real threats."
REED could receive a maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of having made a false statement to which REED entered a plea of guilty today. Sentencing for REED is set for June 2, 2005, at 2:00 p.m before United States District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr.
Assistant United States Attorney Daniel A. Caldwell is prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney or F. Gentry Shelnutt, Chief, Criminal Division, at (404) 581-6065. 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.