Woman Wearing Fake Bomb Arrested at logan Airport

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Woman Wearing Fake Bomb Arrested at logan Airport

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Police say woman is lucky to be alive. Deadly force was going to be used. Word is she is a 19yr old MIT student.

[q
url="http://wbztv.com/topstories/local_story_264104114.html"](WBZ)
BOSTON A woman who walked into Logan International Airport allegedly
wearing a fake bomb strapped to chest was arrested at gunpoint Friday,
officials said.

Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board, wiring and a putty
that later turned out to be Play-Doh in plain view over a black hooded
sweatshirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the
commanding officer at the airport.

After a Massachusetts Port Authority official notified State Police
about 8 a.m., troopers tracked Simpson down outside Terminal C, where
they arrested her and later determined the device was a fake.

"She's extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force
would have been used," Pare told The Associated Press. "And she's lucky
to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."

Simpson is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore from Hawaii, officials said.

Pare said authorities had not determined a motive. Simpson was to be
arraigned in East Boston District Court later in the day. She's charged
with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device.

A Massport staffer manning an information booth in the terminal,
home to United Airlines, Jet Blue and other carriers, became suspicious
when Simpson -- wearing the device -- approached to ask about an
incoming flight, Pare said. Simpson then walked out of the terminal and
the information booth attendant notified a nearby trooper.

The trooper, joined by others with submachine guns, confronted her at a traffic island in front of the terminal.

Pare said Simpson took an MBTA subway to the airport, but he was not
sure if she had the device on at that time. She was arrested near an
area where shuttle buses arrive to take passengers back to the airport
subway station.

"She was allegedly picking somebody up," said Pare.

The major praised the booth attendant but said the incident is a
reminder of the terrorism threat confronting the civil aviation system.
Two passenger jets were hijacked from Logan on Sept. 11, 2001, and
later flown into the World Trade Center as part of a broader terrorist
attack that crashed other jets into the Pentagon and a field in
Pennsylvania.

Nearly 3,000 died in the attack, and Logan has since become a model and test bed for many aviation security techniques.

"In this day and age, the threat continues to be there," said Pare.
"She certainly jeopardized her own safety by bringing this to the
airport, as well as the safety of everybody around her."

A spokeswoman for MIT had no immediate comment.[/q]

 [q
url="http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14171964/detail.html"]BOSTON
-- A woman was arrested by state police at Logan International Airport
on Friday after she was found with a fake bomb, airport officials said.

Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board, wiring and a putty
that later was determined to be Play-Doh in plain view over a black
hooded sweatshirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare,
the commanding officer at the airport.

After a Massachusetts Port Authority official notified State Police
about 8 a.m., troopers tracked Simpson down outside Terminal C, where
they arrested her and later determined the device was a fake.

"She's
extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would
have been used," Pare told The Associated Press. "And she's lucky to be
in a cell as opposed to the morgue."

Simpson is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore from Hawaii, officials said.[/q]