Posted on 01/20/2004 8:12:39 PM PST by blam
Briton held in US jail as 'bomb' joke backfires
By Nick Britten
(Filed: 21/01/2004)
A British student was being held in an American jail last night after joking to airport security on three occasions that she was carrying a bomb.
Samantha Marson, 21, was charged with a second degree felony - which in theory carries a 15-year jail term - after laughing and telling staff at a checkpoint that her hand luggage contained explosives.
Samantha Marson
She was arrested while passing through Miami International Airport for a London-bound British Airways flight. When she reached the checkpoint, she placed her rucksack on a conveyor belt and told a Transportation Security Administration screener: "Hey be careful, I have three bombs in here."
The police report said she was asked to repeat herself twice more, and on both occasions cracked the same "joke".
She was immediately handcuffed and placed in a holding cell and, after being questioned, charged with making a false report about a bomb. She was taken to the women's annexe of Miami-Dade county jail where she will be held on remand for as long as six months waiting for the case to come to trial.
She will be released on bail if she can come up with a £2,700 bond. Her next court date is scheduled for Feb 6.
Marson, from Barnes, south-west London, was on her way back to Britain having spent three months with her boyfriend, Charlie Schmidt, 26, a sailor in the US Navy. She was returning to London on Saturday to renew her visa. Police said she was in floods of tears after her arrest and apologised.
Sgt Joe Wyche, of Miami International Airport police, said: "I am sure it will be taken care of once it reaches the state attorney's office and I don't think she'll actually do any hard time. But this wasn't a one-off joke. She said it three times."
The United States is on high alert for terrorist attacks and police are instructed to take any threat extremely seriously, even those made in jest.
Sgt Wyche added: "It is a quite ridiculous thing to say. I don't know whether she has a career in comedy ahead of her but here is not the time or place to try it out. After 9/11, there is no room for kidding or joking about carrying a bomb.
"But there is provision in the law here that says that if she co-operates fully with the state attorney they might not come down so hard on her."
Marson's parents, originally from Bridgnorth in Shropshire, were understood to be travelling to the United States last night to help their daughter.
Her father, Jim, 75, said: "We are beside ourselves with worry. She phoned at about 3am on Sunday and was hysterical - screaming and upset and in a terrible state.
"I called the police in Miami and was told that she'd been arrested because she'd dared to say the 'B-word'.
"I'm sure Samantha will accept it's a silly thing to say but she's the sort of girl who might have thought it would make people laugh. Clearly the Americans did not see the joke. She hardly looks like Osama bin Laden.
"But now she faces a long time in jail waiting for a trial which is certain to be a farce."
The British consul spent yesterday speaking to the American authorities. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We will offer her any assistance we can and ensure that she is being properly treated. But it is up to US authorities if they decide to arrest someone for making allegations."
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic warned of the dangers of joking about security. A Virgin spokesman said: "With security levels so high at present, there are certain things you do not joke about."
Yes, probably. But, you'd think after they asked her to repeat it for the third time she might've got the hint to say "kidding!".
Is it uniquely British to be utterly without self control?
Hmmm...pity.
Bomb jokes in airports were not considered "funny" long before 9/11. Did she seriously think that someone was going to find her amusing? I wonder if she goes to hospitals and makes cancer jokes.
Public drunkenness and anti-social behavior are rampant in the UK.
Samantha Marson, 21, was charged with a second degree felony - which in theory carries a 15-year jail term - after laughing and telling staff at a checkpoint that her hand luggage contained explosives.
Young lady, that s**t quit being funny when Richard Reid tried to detonate his f***ing shoes.
Al Gore once behaved the same way when he was in Florida.
Personally, I don't think Florida is a terrible state.
Yeah, we're like that. Jokes about bombs on airplanes post 9/11 aren't very funny. I never got the whole Benny Hill thing either.
Here's a funny American joke she should get used to-
A big female prisoner looks at her young blonde cellmate and says, "You want to be the husband or the wife...."
LOL!!! ROFLOL!!!! Now THAT is funny!
Yep, but they are in American English not UK English... the sign should have read "Do not make jokes about bombs in the aerodrome, and definitely do not tell parking attendants that you have bombs in your bonnet."
Whereupon she will be picked up and detained by whatever the INS is calling itself these days because she has now overstayed her visa.
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