Woman Made Bomb Threat to 'Protect Family'

A New York woman who didn't want her mother and brother to fly the day before the tenth anniversary of 9/11 tried to keep them grounded by making a bomb threat, investigators say. Mary Purcell, 37, was arrested after authorities traced two phony bomb threats made against a Southwest Airlines flight departing from Tucson to her landline, the New York Post reports.

"We felt that it was a credible threat,” said the chief of the Tucson Airport Authority Police. “We were already at a heightened state of alert, but more manpower was needed." Purcell, who was on probation for a forgery conviction, has been charged with falsely reporting a bomb threat and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. (More 9/11 anniversary stories.)