The Department of Homeland Security identified the man who claimed to have a bomb while on a plane traveling to New Orleans as a twice-deported illegal immigrant from Honduras recently set free by a judge.
Deputies with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested 34-year-old Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto on Monday evening after he reportedly attempted to storm the cockpit of a United flight traveling with 46 passengers from Newark, New Jersey, to New Orleans. DHS revealed Tuesday that a judge released Gomez-Alberto back in 2020 as he faced a third removal from the United States.
“He has been removed from the country twice and was released a third time, pending removal proceedings, by a judge,” DHS said in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens who try to HIJACK AIRPLANES are NOT welcome in the United States.”
The incident took place shortly after 11:00 p.m. when officials said Gomez-Alberto began acting erratically before telling attendants he had a bomb and attempting to get into the plane’s cockpit. The plane sent out a hijacking alert and Gomez-Alberto was detained in the back of the plane and arrested upon arrival in New Orleans.
“He changed into all black before he started trying to reach the cockpit,” one person said in audio from air traffic control.
Gomez-Alberto currently is in custody at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, Louisiana, facing charges of terrorizing and communicating false information about arson, and a fugitive charge stemming from an apparent warrant in another state.
No bond has been set and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer against Gomez-Alberto on Tuesday.
Border agents previously arrested Gomez-Alberto around El Indio, Texas, in September 2011 and around Columbus, New Mexico, in October 2014, according to the New York Post. He was deported both times after being detained.
He was next arrested sneaking across the border in 2019 around San Ysidro, California, but ICE released him in January 2020 at a judge’s orders.
The Justice Department is reportedly considering whether to bring any federal charges against Gomez-Alberto.
