On Thursday, a woman from Massachusetts admitted that she had called in a false bomb threat to the Boston Children’s Hospital.
According to the court documents, the caller warned of an impending bomb in the hospital and recommended quick evacuation. The threat prompted the hospital to go into lockdown. After a thorough search, there were no explosives located.
Prosecutors say that Catherine Leavy, arrested at her home in Westfield the prior year, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to various counts, including making up a bomb threat. She pled guilty to the most severe charge, which carries a ten-year maximum penalty. In March, she will be given her sentence.
The hospital has begun the first program for transgender children and teenagers nationwide. In August of 2022, it was reported to the police that they had received several threats and harassment.
Last year, the hospital came under scrutiny from far-right social media accounts, news sites, and bloggers after they discovered instructional YouTube films prepared by the facility discussing surgical alternatives for transgender patients.
According to the case files, Leavy initially denied making the threat during her interview with FBI agents. When investigators told her that phone records pinpointed her number as the source of the threat, prosecutors say she immediately confessed. She did, however, say that she did not intend to detonate any device at the hospital. According to the records submitted to the court, she repeatedly voiced her unhappiness with the facility during the interview.
Boston Children’s Hospital is just one of numerous hospitals that treat transgender children and teenagers that has come under attack. The medical community has reportedly demanded that all children’s hospitals around the country collaborate with local law enforcement and have implemented new security measures. Some doctors, they said, need constant protection.
