Woman gets probation for calling in hoax bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital
A Massachusetts woman has been sentenced to three years’ probation after she called in a false bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital, a hospital that has faced a wave of harassment over its surgical program for transgender youth.
Catherine Leavy pleaded guilty in federal court last year to charges including making a false bomb threat. Authorities said the threat was made in August 2022 as the hospital was facing a flood of threats and intimidation. The hospital was launching the nationâs first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday that she had been sentenced Thursday. Her attorney, Forest O’Neill-Greenberg, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last year, the hospital came to the attention of far-right social media accounts, news organizations and bloggers after they found informational YouTube videos from the hospital about surgical procedures for transgender patients.
The caller said, “There’s a bomb on its way to the hospital, you sickos better evacuate everyone,” according to court documents. The threat resulted in the hospital being placed on lockdown. No explosives were found.
Leavy initially denied making the threat during an interview with FBI agents, according to court documents. After agents told her that phone records showed the threat came from her number, she admitted to doing so but said she had not intended to actually bomb the hospital, prosecutors say. She âexpressed disapprovalâ of the hospital âat multiple pointsâ during the interview, according to court documents.
Boston Children’s Hospital is one of the institutions providing medical care to transgender children who have been targeted by threats. Medical associations said last year that children’s hospitals across the country had significantly increased security and had to cooperate with police, and that some healthcare providers required constant security.