Alabama Man Pleads Guilty to Airport Bomb Threat Hoax
Robert Tyler Wicks threatened to detonate a bomb at the Bangor International Airport
BANGOR, Maine /Friday, September 25, 2026 : An Alabama man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Bangor to engaging in a hoax to detonate a bomb at an airport.
According to court records, on February 13 and 14, 2025, an individual threatened to detonate a bomb at the Bangor International Airport (“BIA”) in text messages to American Airlines (“AA”) employees and calls to the BIA switchboard. FBI investigators traced the texts and calls to Robert Tyler Wicks, 25, in Alabama. When investigators interviewed Wicks, he admitted that he made the bomb threats. He further admitted that he had used a mobile app that allowed the user to communicate from a personal cellular telephone using a different telephone number. A subsequent forensic review of Wicks’s cellular telephones revealed multiple calls to the BIA on February 13 and 14, 2025.
During the investigation, the FBI determined that Wicks was in an online relationship with an AA employee working at the BIA. As a result of this relationship, Wicks was able to obtain contact information for other AA employees. In addition, through video chat, Wicks was able to observe law enforcement and AA employee activity while he was making his bomb threats.
Wicks faces up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Federal Air Marshal Service, the Bangor Police Department, the Army National Guard, the Huntsville, Alabama, Police Department, and the Decatur, Alabama, Police Department.
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Contact
Andrew McCormack, Assistant United States Attorney (Tel: 207-945-0373)
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maine
