9/22/2014
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| Anthony Falco |
A man with ties to Lancaster County who has been held in police custody since a Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist hoax in Kansas City, Mo., may soon be released.
According to an Associated Press release, Anthony Vincent Falco Jr., 50, whose last known local address was an East Petersburg post office box, and former New York City police officer, may go free after U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah W. Hays recommended on Tuesday that the court issue an order finding that Falco, who has a history of mental illness, is not a risk to others or their property and that he be set free.
Falco was taken into custody in 2011 after security screeners at a Southwest Airlines checkpoint noticed something suspicious in his carry-on bag as it went through an X-ray machine.
According to an FBI affidavit, Falco became belligerent and refused to open the bag when screeners asked him to do so.
He allegedly told authorities they would “be sorry” and “have a very bad day” if they opened packages in his luggage, according to reports on the Kansas City Star website.
During a K-9 sweep of his packages — which, screeners said, had all the earmarks of an improvised explosive device — Falco started chanting Bible verses and said, "Father God America is going to go down," an FBI agent said. Falco also warned that investigators would be sorry if they opened the packages, he said.
The terminal was shut down for several hours on the busy Sunday and at least two flights were canceled because of the incident. A bomb squad later determined there were no explosives in his bags.
According to the AP, Falco's mother told investigators at the time he had stopped taking medications for schizophrenia, and prosecutors later got a court order that allowed him to be forcibly medicated in order to be competent for trial. When that didn't work, Falco was sent back to a mental hospital in North Carolina for further evaluation.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a report late last year that said even with medication Falco "continued to exhibit persecutory delusions." It concluded that Falco remained incompetent, adding "it is unlikely that continued treatment with antipsychotic medication would restore Mr. Falco's competency to stand trial in the foreseeable future."
His condition posed a dilemma for prosecutors because they couldn't get the case to trial and Falco couldn't be committed to a mental institution because he was not a danger to himself or others.
Falco's public defender, Laine Cardarella, argued in court last year that even if he were convicted of the two charges against him — making false statements to federal agents and trying to bring items simulating an explosive device through security — Falco probably would have been sentenced to less than two years.
Objections to Hays' report must be filed by Oct. 3.
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