A Breeze Airways passenger who made an inflight bomb threat after just breaking up with his girlfriend has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after being found guilty of maliciously making a bomb threat on a commercial airliner.
Evan Sims, 41, of Rhode Island, has been held in custody since his arrest on December 5 after causing the emergency diversion of Breeze Airways flight 717 and will be required to pay the carrier more than $25,000 in restitution for the disruption he caused.
The incident occurred as Sims was traveling back home to Rhode Island with his girlfriend following a vacation in Orlando, but as the pair were waiting to board the Breeze Airways flight, his lover told him that she wanted to break up with him.
Court documents allege that Sims immediately started to act strangely after hearing the news and dumped a drink on his ex-girlfriend before calling her various slurs.
By this point, Sims was already on the plane and he started making strange comments about needing to use the emergency doors and asking flight attendants about the emergency life raft.
Passengers were so alarmed about Sims’ behavior that they asked to switch seats to move away from him, but by this point, the plane was already taxiing for takeoff. Shortly after takeoff and while the plane was still climbing, Sims suddenly stood up and exclaimed to the cabin that he wanted to get off the plane.
The flight attendants told prosecutors that they realized they needed to move Sims’ girlfriend in an attempt to diffuse the situation, but before they could do so, Sims exclaimed twice that his girlfriend had a bomb on her.
The pilots decided to make an emergency diversion to Jacksonville, Florida, where a full bomb threat emergency was initiated and bomb sniffer dogs were despatched to check the plane for anything suspicious.
Sims was led off the plane by local law enforcement and interviewed by the FBI, during which he claimed his comments had been ‘misconstrued’ and that he may have accidentally used the word ‘bomb’ once.
Before the case could go to trial, Sims pleaded guilty in March 2024. Once he is released from jail, Sims will also face two years of supervised release.
