‘There is a bomb on the way.’ Fake threat puts children’s hospital on lockdown, feds say

A woman faces federal charges after prosecutors say she phoned in a fake bomb threat against Boston’s Children’s Hospital, putting the facility on lockdown.

Her threat came during a harassment campaign against the hospital as accusations of child abuse were made about its Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS) — a program providing care to transgender and gender-diverse youth, according to investigators.

“There is a bomb on the way to the hospital, you better evacuate everybody, you sickos,” the woman said in call made to the hospital on Aug. 30, court documents show.

Catherine Leavy, 37, was charged with making a false bomb threat and intentionally conveying false information on Oct. 6, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

McClatchy News contacted Leavy’s attorney for comment on Oct. 7 and was awaiting a response.

The GeMS at Boston Children’s Hospital was founded in 2007 and is believed to be the first program in the U.S. to “focus on gender-diverse and transgender adolescents,” according to the hospital’s website. The program specializes in primary care, therapy, plastic surgery and more.

In August, online accusations were made, alleging the hospital and the GeMS program was involved in pedophilia and child mutilation, according to an affidavit.

As a result, the hospital faced a series of harassing calls, emails and violent threats, including the one Leavy made on Aug. 30, the affidavit states.

“We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms, and we reject the false narrative upon which they are based,” the hospital told The Washington Post in a statement in August. “We are working with law enforcement to protect our clinicians, staff, patients, families, and the broader Boston Children’s community and hold the offenders accountable.”

After Leavy’s call, a bomb squad arrived at the hospital and the facility and the nearby area was put on a lockdown as the squad searched for explosives, according to the release.

When no explosives were found, investigators began tracking down the caller who made the threat, prosecutors say.

Call detail records ultimately led investigators to Leavy, who was interviewed by FBI agents on Sept. 15, according to the affidavit.

At first, Leavy denied making the bomb threat against the hospital but began repeatedly expressing disapproval of the facility, the affidavit states.

“When agents further questioned her based on those beliefs,” Leavy told them she made the threat, but she said she was not serious about it, according to the affidavit.

Leavy faces a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted on the charge of making a false bomb threat, the release says. She faces a potential sentence of up to five years in prison if convicted on the charge of conveying false information.

She is scheduled to appear in court at a later date, according to the release.

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