Grand Jury Indicts Machinist On 16 Counts, Including Identity
Theft
Authorities are moving quickly to
prosecute a former Boeing employee accused of making bomb threats
against his managers, and top executives with the company.
The Associated Press reports Gino Augustus Turrella, 46, faces a
16-count grand jury indictment for various incidents. On May 2 and
4, Turrella allegedly sent emails to a Boeing server, threatening
to shoot up or bomb the Boeing facility in Auburn, WA where he
worked for 18 years.
"I'm going for maximum death and destruction in the work place!"
Turrella allegedly wrote, according to the federal complaint filed
by Special Agent Chad Piontek. Several emails were addressed to
higher-ups at the planemaker, including Commercial Airplanes CEO
Scott Carson and Pat Shanahan, program manager on the 787
Dreamliner.
Agents say Turcella tried to cover his tracks, placing blame on
his former manager identified in court documents only as "J.O."
Turrella allegedly sent the threatening messages from that
manager's address, and signed his name.
When investigators looked into the threats, they uncovered a
spate of similar missives against a Shell Oil refinery in
Anacortes, sent later in May. Officials linked those messages to
Turcella... and the picture became even clearer, when they
discovered he had a prior record.
In fact, the FBI says Turrella first came to the agency's
attention in the 1990s, when he made threats over his ham radio...
including threats to mow people down with an AK-47 assault rifle.
The Federal Communications Commission fined Turrella $10,000 for
jamming legitimate transmissions, and for being a general
nuisance.
He never paid the fine... but he did threaten to bomb the FCC
office in Kirkland, according to the indictment. Although several
witnesses made statements about Turrella and fingerprint evidence
linking him to the threats, Turrella received deferred
prosecution.
In 1997, the US attorney's office in Seattle sent Turrella's
lawyer a stern letter asking that Turrella stop interfering with
communications on a Coast Guard emergency distress channel.
Despite that close call, Turrella apparently continued his
pattern of disturbing behavior... and authorities seemed to still
turn a blind eye. The US Attorney's office
sent Turrella's lawyer a 'stern letter,' in the AP's words, in 1997
-- telling Turrella to stop making transmissions on a US Coast
Guard emergency frequency.
Turrella reportedly continued to make threats on the channel
until 2000. He was fired from Boeing in August 2005, after he
allegedly sent a co-worker three live AK-47 cartridges via
interoffice mail. He had worked as a flexible line worker for
Boeing's parts plant in Auburn since 1987.
Upon his termination, the FBI conducted a behavorial analysis of
Turrella, and determined he posed a "low-to-moderate" risk of
returning to attack Boeing workers. Turrella "possessed many of the
characteristics deemed to be risk factors for future acts of
targeted violence," the FBI added.
Agents arrested Turrella August 26 in the parking lot of an
outdoor gear store. He was charged Thursday... and was due to make
his first appearance in US District Court last Friday. When agents
searched his home, they found over 100 guns.
Turrella reportedly has no criminal convictions.
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