The Northeastern University employee who said he was injured when a package he was opening on the Boston campus exploded last month has been indicted by a federal grand jury on three charges.
Jason Duhaime, 45, the former new technology manager and director of the university’s Immersive Media Lab, had previously been arrested on charges of “intentionally conveying false and misleading information related to an explosive device” and then lying to federal investigators.
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Thursday's charges — the same as the ones previously brought against Duhaime when he was arrested in Texas — come from the grand jury, which examined the case presented by prosecutors and found enough evidence to proceed with charges against the former San Antonio resident.
The bomb hoax prompted a lockdown and massive police hunt in Boston. Police initially announced that a 45-year-old received minor injuries in the explosion, but sources later told NBC10 Boston the investigation was being investigated as a possible hoax, and that the blast wasn't caused by an explosive device but an over-pressurized case.
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Duhaime told investigators that the hard plastic case exploded when he opened it on Sept. 13, causing “sharp” objects to fly from the case and injure his arms, but his arms only had superficial marks and there was no damage to his shirt, according to prosecutors.
According to an FBI affidavit, “The inside and outside of the case did not bear any marks, dents, cracks, holes, or other signs that it had been exposed to a forceful or explosive discharge of any type or magnitude.”
Duhaime was arrested without incident Oct. 4 near his home in San Antonio.
Duhaime has previously denied staging the incident, saying in an interview with The Boston Globe that it was “very traumatic.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
