NEWARK, NJ - The passenger who claimed he had a bomb aboard a United Airlines flight from Newark to New Orleans and then tried to rush the cockpit has been identified as 34-year-old Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, a twice-deported illegal immigrant, according to immigration officials.
Gomez-Alberto was arrested on three separate occasions by Border Patrol for illegally entering the United States, years before this most recent incident aboard United Flight 2174, which departed Newark on Monday night, November 9, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. Immigration officials said that Gomez-Alberto, a Honduras native, was arrested twice in the United States and deported, the New York Post reported.
He was first caught crossing the border near El Indio, Texas, and deported in September 2011. He was caught again near Columbus, New Mexico, and deported in October 2014. He reportedly made his way back into the United States a third time in 2019 near San Ysidro, California, where he was arrested again.
He was then freed from ICE custody in January 2020 after a judge ordered his release pending removal proceedings, authorities said. His criminal history includes felony bomb threat, felony state terroristic threat offenses, and disorderly conduct, according to the DHS spokesperson.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the United States,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Prior to his most recent arrest, Gomez-Alberto was living in the Bronx, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said. ICE lodged a detainer for him on Tuesday, November 10, with the sheriff’s office. While in the air, Gomez-Alberto allegedly threatened the United Airlines flight carrying 46 passengers and six crew members, claiming he had a bomb as he rushed toward the cockpit.
Air Traffic Control audio revealed that he was detained in the back of the plane after being convinced to head to the rear by the flight crew to allow the aircraft to eventually land safely in New Orleans.
“He changed into all black before he started trying to reach the cockpit,” local authorities can be heard saying in the audio recording. Police arrested him after the plane landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. He was charged with communicating false information of planned arson and with terrorizing. He is being held without bail at the Jefferson Parish Correction Center.
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