Woman pleads guilty to hospital bomb threat
‘The real victims in this case are the hospital’s patients . . . and those seeking emergency care.’
JOSEPH R. BONAVOLONTA, former head of Boston FBI
A Westfield woman pleaded guilty Thursday to calling in a hoax bomb threat to Boston Children’s Hospital last year, one of multiple threats directed at the medical facility over its provision of care for transgender youth, authorities said.
Catherine Leavy, 37, pleaded guilty in US District Court in Boston to charges of making a false bomb threat and intentionally conveying false or misleading information, according to Acting US Attorney Joshua S. Levy’s office and court records.
Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for March 19, Levy’s office said. Leavy’s public defender could not be reached for comment.
Prosecutors said law enforcement began monitoring threats against the hospital and its employees in August 2022. The hospital, which provides a wide range of medical services, is home to a program “focused on gender-diverse and transgender adolescents.”
On Aug. 30, 2022, the hospital received a call from someone who said, “There is a bomb on the way to the hospital, you better evacuate everybody you sickos,” prosecutors said.
The hospital and surrounding area was locked down and a bomb squad responded, prosecutors said. No explosive devices were found, but phone records led investigators to Leavy, they said.
“During a search of Leavy’s residence on Sept. 15, 2022, the phone used to make the threat was recovered,” prosecutors said. “In an on-scene interview with law enforcement, Leavy expressed disapproval of Boston Children’s Hospital on multiple occasions.”
She also admitted to calling in the threat on Aug. 30 but told authorities she had no plan or intention to carry out a bombing, prosecutors said. The false bomb threat charge carries a maximum prison term of 10 years, while the other count carries up to five years, officials said.
The threat came during a tense time in which doctors and other Children’s staff who treat transgender children began receiving threats and harassment after right-wing groups targeted the hospital’s transgender health program on social media.
No one besides Leavy was charged federally with threatening the hospital. In April, her lawyer said he was endeavoring to “gather mental health records” relevant to his client, according to court records.
“The real victims in this case are the hospital’s patients, children with rare diseases, complex conditions, and those seeking emergency care who had to divert to other hospitals because of these hoax threats,” Joseph R. Bonavolonta, then the head of the Boston FBI office, said when Leavy was arrested in September 2022.