Marina Verbitsky, 46, allegedly told JetBlue officials at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Monday night she had a bomb in her checked luggage
A woman running late to her flight on Monday falsely claimed she planted a bomb in her checked luggage in an apparent effort to delay the plane so that her son would not be late for school, authorities say.
Marina Verbitsky, 46, arrived at her terminal in Florida’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport with her husband and son at around 8:45 p.m., as her flight back to her home in Chicago was about to take off.
She tried to explain to JetBlue personnel that she needed to get on the plane because her son had school the next day, the Washington Post reports, but they told her it was too late.
At that point, Verbitsky allegedly started berating the employees and spreading profanities, which just became worse when they told her her checked luggage was already on the flight.
‘She became very angry because they were not allowed to board the plane,’ a Broward County sheriff’s deputy wrote in a police report obtained by FOX News.
‘She was using profanities toward the employees, and when she was notified the plane was taxiing to the runway with her checked luggage, she stated there was a bomb in her luggage.’
Verbitsky was promptly arrested, and the plane’s takeoff was delayed.
All of the passengers were also taken off of the flight before authorities with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office threat management unit scoured the plane for a bomb – and found nothing.
Verbitsky is now facing a charge of false reporting concerning planting a bomb, explosive or weapon of mass destruction. Her bail was set at $10,000 – which she posted on Tuesday, and a Florida judge ordered her to undergo a mental health evaluation.
‘It was a mistake,’ a relative who asked not to be named told the Chicago Sun-Times. ‘She was nervous about the son needing to go to school. It was a mess, but it was definitely not meant to be.’
Verbitsky allegedly has family in the area, the Sun-Times reports, but it is unclear whether she was in the area to visit them.
The threat delayed the flight, and all of the passengers on board had to be deplaned as authorities searched for the alleged bomb – and found nothing
She is now the second person accused of making a false bomb threat at the Fort Lauderdale airport in just three months.
In July, Wegal Rosen, 74, was arrested after allegedly telling an employee at the ticketing counter there was a bomb in his bag, forcing the airport to evacuate three terminals, close roads and cancel or delay dozens of flights.
He received the same charge at Verbitsky, and could face up to 15 years in prison.
A judge also ordered him to never return to the airport.
And in May, the FBI arrested a Georgia man after he allegedly called into Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, concerned his daughter was smuggling marijuana on a flight to St. Croix.
He allegedly asked a Delta employee whether they could take his daughter off the plane, the United States Department of Justice reports, to which the representative responded that the airline does have a protocol in place, but it could not be shared with him.
That is when, the DOJ reports, he became irate, identified himself as the girl’s father and asked a Delta representative what they would do if ‘I told you there was a bomb on the plane’ before hanging up.
The representative then called the local law enforcement and corporate security and the passengers were deplaned as a search team and bomb-sniffing dog were deployed.
The daughter was also screened and questioned by a Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority detective, who ultimately concluded that no bombs or drugs were on the scene.
‘The FBI and our partners take all threats of violence seriously. With lives potentially at risk, we have to,’ Michael J. Driscoll, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division said in a statement.
‘Hoax threats consume law enforcement resources needed for actual emergencies and cause serious disruptions for the locations and people targeted,’ he added.
‘Anyone who pulls something like this should expect the FBI to come knocking. It’s a crime and you will be held accountable.’
Louts and loudmouths slapped in incidents involving cocaine use, attacks on flight attendants and fights with other passengers
The FAA proposed a zero-tolerance policy in 2021
- A man aboard a JetBlue flight from New York to Orlando allegedly threw objects at passengers, blocked the aisles and put his head up a flight attendants skirt. The plane made an emergency landing and he was handcuffed and fined $45,000
- A man aboard a JetBlue flight from New York to San Francisco allegedly snorted cocaine, kept removing his facemask, made non-consensual contact with another passenger, threatened to harm and stab other passengers. The man was arrested and fined $42,000
- A man aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Orlando to Kansas City allegedly assaulted passengers around him because someone had refused to change seats to accommodate the man’s partner. The man was arrested and fined $32,500
- A man aboard a Frontier Airlines flight from Atlanta to New York allegedly assaulted two flight attendants after the plane landed, threatening to kill one of them. He was arrested and fined $30,000
- A woman aboard a Frontier Airlines flight from Orlando to Providence, Rhode Island, allegedly kept kicking the plane’s bulkhead, screaming obscenities at fellow passengers and flight attendants, locking herself in the bathroom and throwing nuts at people. She was arrested and fined $25,500
Meanwhile, Federal Aviation Administration officials say passengers’ behavior on airplanes and in airports has worsened during the pandemic.
In August, it reported 3,889 cases of ‘unruly behavior’ by airline passengers, resulting in $1 million in fines against 80 passengers, including one JetBlue customer who was hit with the heaviest fine of $45,000 for hurling objects at passengers and putting his head up a flight attendant’s skirt on May 24.
Of the incidents, which were detailed by federal investigators for the first time, nearly two-thirds involved passengers accused of violating the federal transportation-wide mask mandate.
Federal documents also show that half of the 34 new incidents that resulted in fines involved fights on planes heading to or from Florida. Nine passengers were accused of touching or hitting someone else, and eight passengers are accused of illegally drinking alcohol they snuck on board, CNN reports.
Unruly passengers aboard flights have made headlines recently and even spurred United Airlines to send out a company-wide memo, instructing its flight attendants not to duct tape passengers to their seat following previous incidents aboard competing airlines.
This year, the FAA imposed a zero-tolerance policy for interfering with or assaulting flight attendants that carries a fine of up to $35,000 and possible jail time.
Of the 3,900 cases reported, the FAA has opened 682 investigations into possible violations of federal laws.
The number of cases under investigation are about three times the number the agency has had to deal with in the last 15 years.
The FAA does not have the authority to file criminal charges, but instead proposes civil fines that the accused violators may pay or dispute.
House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio, of Oregon, told CNN that he would like to see steeper punishments for those accused of in-flight violence facing prison time.
‘The first time we take one of these jerks who is assaulting flight attendants or attempting to take an aircraft down – and they go away for a few years and they get a massive fine – I think that will send a message,’ he said.
The largest flight attendant union, the Association of Flight Attendants, has also called for more prosecutions.
‘If you interfere with a crew member’s duties and put the rest of the plane in jeopardy, or assault the crew member, you’re facing $35,000 in fines for each incident and up to 20 years in prison,’ association President Sara Nelson told CNN. ‘People need to understand there are severe consequences here.’
Fellow passenger Dennis Busch filmed Timothy Armstrong, 61, having an intoxicated meltdown on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
A flight crew confronted Armstrong about his behavior and ordered him to take a seat
Most recently, Timothy Armstrong, 61, of Las Vegas was recorded on cell phone video and appeared intoxicated on the flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City.
Passenger Dennis Busch, who posted part of the confrontation to TikTok, claimed that the man had been making racist and sexist comments to other passengers during the flight before he started recording.
After the plane appears to have landed, Armstrong can be seen gesturing his middle finger, while saying ‘that’s what you think about us,’ before quickly walking up the aisle to confront a flight attendant.
As the flight attendant sees Armstrong coming near him, he tells the passenger to sit down several times.
Armstrong appears to slur his words as he responds: ‘What? What? What? What are you going to kick me off this flight? I’m already here.’
He then goes on to say: ‘No! That’s what you think about us’.
Just seconds later, Armstrong is caught in his seat gesturing the middle finger one last time, saying: ‘God Bless America.’
Armstrong is seen growling in his seat and chewing on his face mask.
Then he gets up and confronts the flight attendant once again, saying ‘You can’t hold us!’
Once the plane’s doors opened, two police officers are seen escorting him off the plane.
He was taken to a hospital to be checked out before police cited him for public intoxication.