LOS ANGELES : Woman Acquitted After Putting Fake Bomb on Jet
A federal jury Friday acquitted a Hawthorne woman charged with planting a phony bomb on a United Airlines jetliner last November as part of a friend’s scheme to extort $600,000 from the airline.
The jury agreed with Joan Hill’s defense that she did not know the package she planted on the plane at the request of Paul Stoos, 20, contained a fake bomb, which prosecutors said was modeled after a bomb in the movie Lethal Weapon 2.
Stoos pleaded guilty to extortion in federal court in Brooklyn and is awaiting sentencing.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
