In this day and age, the number of terrorist plots seem to be rising. As such, you can expect authorities to take threats very, very seriously – even if it's just a joke. One 17 year old found this out the hard way, when he left a bomb threat at an Apple Store, and was arrested soon after.
According to 1010 Wins, Jason Barry was charged with making a terrorist threat at the Apple Store in Staten Island, after he typed up a bomb threat on a Mac at the store and forgot to erase it. His message, written under the name of a friend's dad, read, "I have threatened your store and all its employees with a bloody death… whoever the crew maybe working, or the innocent citizens that walk in… will be eliminated with the force of a… bomb loaded with C4, strapped to my chest." How one could find this a joke is certainly questionable, but District Attorney Daniel Donovan definitely didn't; he stated, "Although this defendant claims he was joking, a letter threatening to inflict 'a bloody death' is no joking matter. There are serious consequences for this type of reckless behavior."
Barry now faces seven years in prison for his prank, and worse still, will be on watch lists for the rest of his life. It goes to show, there's a thin line between humor and harm.
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