A Harvard University student has been charged with orchestrating the institution’s nerve-wracking bomb threat on Monday. Eldo Kim, 20, of Cambridge will be in U.S. District Court at Southie’s John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
Under the bomb hoax statute, Kim faces penalties of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
According to an affidavit filed with authorities (see: below), Kim sent the same email to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), two Harvard University officials and the president of the Harvard Crimson. The subject line read: “bombs placed around campus.” The body of the text subsequently read as follows:
“shrapnel bombs placed in:
science center
sever hall
emerson hall
thayer hall
2/4. guess correctly.
be quick for they will go off soon”
The FBI was immediately contacted upon receipt of the email and all four buildings were safely evacuated. The HUPD, Cambridge Police, Massachusetts State Police, FBI and Secret Service all arrived on the scene and swept the buildings for any dangerous contraband before reopening them some five hours later.
Kim admitted to authorities that he deliberately schemed the hoax in a misguided attempt to avoid taking a final exam Monday morning.
According to the Crimson, Kim used a free online application that generates anonymous email addresses known as Guerrilla Mail. But that’s not all; in addition “Kim used a free application called TOR, which generates a random anonymous IP address for temporary use that is difficult for law enforcement to trace.”
The affidavit continues to note, however, that “Harvard University was able to determine that, in the several hours leading up to the receipt of the e-mail messages described above, ELDO KIM accessed TOR using Harvard’s wireless network.”
Kim was actually seated in Emerson Hall, one of the aforementioned facilities threatened with the bombing, when the fire alarm sounded and students were promptly evacuated. Upon hearing the alarm, affirms the affidavit, he knew that his plan had worked.
Listed on a Harvard biography page, Kim was supposedly pursing a concentration in psychology and a secondary in Japanese. He wrote for the Harvard International Review and danced as a member of the Harvard Breakers.
