Man arrested Friday for bomb threat at RSW airport in May

A man was arrested and transferred to the Lee County jail after falsely reporting to a TSA agent that he had a bomb at RSW. This happened on May 22, 2021, at Southwest Florida International Airport.

According to an arrest report, Anthony Devens Jr., 74, was at the airport at checkpoint B, inside of RSW, Devens Jr. falsely reported to a TSA agent that there was a bomb in his carry-on bag.

When hearing this, the TSA officer called her supervisors. Those supervisors alerted Lee County Sheriff’s deputies via an emergency button while the officer was preparing to search Devens’ bags.

When asked if there was anything sharp or dangerous. He said he “had a bomb.” Devens repeated twice more during the search process “there’s a bomb in there.”

After sending his belongings through the X-ray machine, TSA staff said that they couldn’t find anything.

Devens yelled an obscenity at one of the TSA supervisors while they were picking up bins to put his belongings into. He also told her that he had a bomb in his shoe.

Devens Jr. was traveling with a woman, Sharon Stokes, 73, and they were supposed to board a Southwest flight.

In addition to other deputies, a K-9 officer was dispatched to the scene to sniff the bags for possible odors. But, the results were negative.

Devens Jr. and Stokes were denied boarding of their flight.

As Devens was being escorted out, pushing Stokes in a wheelchair, he said “watch out, I have an atom bomb inside that bag.” Since all of the bags had been cleared, authorities continued escorting the pair from the airport.

Devens faces one charge of a false report of a bomb, explosive, or weapon of mass destruction.