Man arrested after airport security breach, fake bomb threat
A Las Vegas man is accused of driving his vehicle into a secure area of Harry Reid International Airport, then producing a fake bomb in an episode that briefly halted air traffic control operations Thursday.
Las Vegas police said they arrested Sergio Magana, 36, at the scene of the security breach. Police said in an arrest report for Magana that a blue vehicle rammed through a security gate at 12:04 p.m., then drove nearly a mile on airport property. A responding officer soon noticed the car approaching him at a high rate of speed with a man behind the wheel driving recklessly.
“The car stopped on (the officer’s) driver’s side, and the subject shouted, ‘I’m trying to get your attention; I’ve been looking for you,’” police said. “(The motorist) then states, ‘I got a bomb right here,’ as the subject held up an unknown aerosol can wrapped with duck tape.”
As the motorist was taken into custody, police said he told the officer he “blew threw gate bro just went right through it. People were after me, and I came looking straight for you!”
A police dog used to detect explosives found none in the vehicle. Magana, when questioned by detectives, told police he previously worked at the airport as a fleet agent for Southwest Airlines so he was familiar with the area. He said he now works at a convenience store on Pecos Road and that at his place of work, “people from the cartel are coming in and out of the store and giving him a threatening look and never saying a word,” police said.
Police said Magana told them he drove into the secure area to tell police about the “cartel people” and that he didn’t plan on harming anyone. About $30,000 worth of damage was done to the secured control gate and air traffic control operations were briefly halted, police said.
Magana was arrested on counts of communicating a bomb threat, possessing a hoax bomb and destroying property. He was scheduled for an appearance Tuesday morning in Las Vegas Justice Court. He was being held on a $5,000 bail and, if he is released, he’s been ordered to stay away from the airport.
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
