T.J. Miller Arrested Over Fake Bomb Threat

Actor T.J. Miller has been charged with calling in a false bomb threat from an Amtrak train, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut. Federal authorities say he was charged “with intentionally conveying to law enforcement false information about an explosive device on a train traveling to Connecticut.” The charge carries a maximum term of five years in prison.

Miller appeared before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven after being arrested at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York. He was released on a $100,000 bond. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Connecticut State Police, Westport Police Department, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, and Amtrak Police Department.

According to the complaint, Miller called a New Jersey 911 dispatcher on March 18. He reported that that a female passenger with brown hair and a scarf “has a bomb in her bag” on Amtrak Train 2256. The train was traveling from Washington, D.C., toward Penn Station in New York City.

Amtrak Train 2256 was stopped at Green’s Farms Station in Westport, Connecticut by Amtrak officials. After the passengers were taken off the train, members of the bomb squad conducted a thorough search. No explosive device or materials were found.

When re-contacted by phone, Miller described the woman differently and was apparently slurring his words. The investigator asked if he had consumed alcohol that day, to which he responded that he had consumed “one glass of red wine.”

According to the investigation, Miller had actually been traveling on a different train appeared intoxicated when he boarded in Washington, based on information from an attendant from the First Class car where Miller had been sitting. The attendant also said that Miller consumed multiple drinks on the train and was removed in New York because of intoxication. Hostile exchanges with a woman who was sitting in a different row from him in the First Class car may have prompted his call to emergency services.

Miller is a comedian who’s made a career out of his unique brand of humor. Miller exited after season 4 of HBO’s Silicon Valley. The show’s producers accused Miller of consistently showing up late to the set, sometimes under the influence, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He was arrested in 2016 in Los Angeles after drunkenly slapping his Uber driver in the head.