Former Boeing staff charged with making bomb threats

Global - A former Boeing employee has been charged by the federal grand jury in Seattle for making Internet threats to shoot or blow up employees at Boeing facilities. When apprehended by Federal authorities, more than 100 firearms were found at his home.

According to the US Attorney's Office, Gino Augustus Turrella, 46, has been charged with 16 counts of Threat by Instrument of Interstate Commerce and Identity Theft.

In emails to Boeing on 2 May and 4 May this year, Turrella threatened to bring a gun into a Boeing facility in Auburn and "Shoot everyone I see" or as an alternative, strap himself with explosives and detonate it to "cause maximum death and destruction in the workplace", said Chad Piontek FBI Special Agent in a federal complaint.

In another email, Turrella threatened to set off a bomb in an Anacortes oil refinery using a remote control.

Kelly Donaghy, spokeswoman of Boeing said, "Turrella worked as a flexible machine operator in Auburn from August 1987 to August 2005."

Local sources reported that at least one email was addressed to key Boeing executives, including Scott Carson, CEO of the company's Commercial Airplanes division; Pat Shanahan, GM of the 787 program; and Robert J. Pasterick, CFO of Commercial Airplanes.

Turrella made his threats posing as other people by using email accounts he'd created in their names. One such bogus email account was that of his ex-manager.

Turrella was arrested on 26 August this year in the parking lot of the REI store in Tukwila. When authorities conducted a search in his home, more than 100 firearms were found.

The US Attorney's Office said, if convicted, Turrella could face up to 10 years in prison for each count of the threats against Boeing and the refinery. He could also face up to five years in imprisonment for each identity theft. Conviction for either crime could also result in up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to US$250,000.