A local man has entered a guilty plea to a federal charge of making a bomb threat against the Augusta social security office.
Keyon Tishaye Dickens, 38, pleaded guilty to using a phone to make a threat to injure a person or damage a building using explosives, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
Dickens received a notice in September that the social security office intended to recoup overpayments that had been made to him from his future SSI checks. He called the Augusta office to complain and stated, “I’m going to shoot the office up and I’m going to blow it up. I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do.”
Dickens later visited the office carrying a backpack and showed a note that read “I have a bomb” to a security officer. The officer notified the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, and the building was locked down and evacuated. No bomb was found, and Richmond County deputies took Dickens into custody.
