Bomb joke leaves traveler laughing all the way to jail

Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska — An Alaska Airlines passenger was arrested Monday, accused of joking that his lost luggage contained a bomb, Juneau police said.

James Longcroft, 29, was taken into custody at his hotel room a day after the incident. He was accused of terroristic threatening, said Capt. Tom Porter, Juneau police spokesman.

It’s the second such arrest in Alaska since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Longcroft, an Irish national who listed his address as England, lost the bag on a flight from Seattle on Sunday. He was describing the bag to an airlines employee when he reportedly said it had a bomb inside, police said. He then told the employee he was joking, police said.

The employee reported the incident to Juneau police, who contacted the FBI, the Juneau District Attorney’s Office, the Juneau Airport Security and the Alaska Airlines Dispatch Operations in Seattle.

The bag was located at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. No bomb was found, police said.

Longcroft was being held at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

The arrest came 10 days after a Washington state doctor was arrested in Sitka, accused of making threatening comments to an Alaska Airlines ticket agent.

Sitka police booked Dr. Bruce Stevenson into jail for investigation of terroristic threatening and misdemeanor fourth-degree assault. Stevenson, 58, had become upset about possible delays in retrieving baggage and reportedly told the ticket agent he would "come back as an assassin" if that occurred.

Assistant District Attorney Corinne Vorenkamp declined to prosecute, saying Stevenson’s actions were not illegal under state law.

Alaska Airlines, however, banned the doctor from its planes for life.

Stevenson, a doctor at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, apologized last week in a statement. He has been placed on indefinite administrative leave, hospital officials said.