Illinois woman sentenced for Lansing public transit bomb hoax "prank"
An Illinois woman was sentenced for a Lansing public transit bomb hoax "prank," federal prosecutors say.
Nefateria Denise Ferguson, 33, of Peoria, Illinois, was sentenced to 3 years' probation with the first four months in home confinement and a $350 fine for an interstate bomb hoax, said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says that on April 22, 2025, at 8:10 a.m., Ferguson called the Capitol Area Transit Authority (CATA) anonymously and said, "I just wanted to let you guys know it's a bomb at the bus station."
Because CATA's offices and main bus terminal are located in the downtown center of the city, officials rerouted every bus in the city away from downtown, closed the streets around the station and cleared over 200 staff, drivers, and patrons from the office and main bus terminal, according to the attorney's office.
The Lansing Police Department searched the area with a bomb-sniffing canine unit and shut it down for approximately an hour during the morning rush, federal prosecutors say.
Ferguson gave a false name and denied having placed the call when Lansing detectives called her back. Ferguson then confessed to FBI agents that she had placed the call as a "prank" when they confronted her with records establishing her identity, according to the attorney's office.
Ferguson admitted she was part of a group text with a CATA employee who had jokingly asked someone to make a bomb threat so she could leave work. The CATA employee, who was surprised that Ferguson followed through, has since been terminated, the U.S. attorney's office says.
Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said:
"Threats to bomb a public transit center are serious offenses that can cause fear, disrupt communities, and place the public and first responders at risk. This sentence reflects the seriousness of making a false threat and the consequences that follow when someone intentionally causes law enforcement to respond to a nonexistent danger. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to take threats to public safety seriously and hold accountable those who use threats and intimidation to disrupt our communities."
"We want to thank the U.S. Attorney's Office for following through with this prosecution. What may have been intended as a joke had serious consequences and disrupted public transportation across the city. We appreciate our federal partners for taking this case seriously," said Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus.
