Richmond County Man Indicted on Federal Charges for Bomb Scare at Social Security Office

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Georgia

AUGUSTA, GA:  A Richmond County man has been indicted on federal charges for a bomb threat targeting the Social Security Administration’s Augusta office.

Keyon Tishaye Dickens, 38, of Augusta, currently is being held in the Jefferson County Detention Center after being indicted for Using a Telephone to Make a Threat to Injure a Person or Damage a Building by Explosives, and two counts of False Information and Bomb Hoax, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The phone charge carries a statutory penalty upon conviction of up to 10 years in prison, and each of the hoax charges carry a statutory penalty of up to five years in prison, along with substantial financial penalties and a period of supervised release upon completion of any prison term.

There is no parole in the federal system.

“We take seriously any threats of violence against government employees or other workers,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “Actions intended to frighten and intimidate innocent people will not be tolerated.”

The indictment alleges that Dickens called the Social Security Administration office in Augusta on Oct. 10, threatening to use an explosive device to harm the building and workers. Later, at the Social Security office, Dickens displayed a note with the handwritten message, “I have a bomb,” to a security officer who alerted the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

The building was locked down and evacuated, and no bomb was found. Richmond County deputies took Dickens into custody. He awaits further court proceedings and is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs III.

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