The deranged passenger who claimed he had a bomb aboard a New Orleans-bound United Airlines flight and then tried to rush the cockpit, has been identified as a Honduran illegal migrant twice kicked out of the US, immigration officials told The Post.
Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, was arrested on three separate occasions by Border Patrol for illegally entering the United States, years before he threatened to blow up the United flight 2174 plane out of New Jersey Monday night, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said.
Immigration officials said that Gomez-Alberto, a Honduras native, was arrested twice in the US and deported – first in September 2011 near El Indio, Texas, and again in October 2014 in Columbus, New Mexico.
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The slippery migrant made his way back into the US a third time in 2019 near California’s San Ysidro border town, where he was nabbed again, according to DHS.
But Gomez-Alberto was freed from ICE custody in January 2020 after a judge ordered his release pending removal proceedings, authorities said.
His criminal history includes felony bomb threat, felony threat—terroristic state offenses, and disorderly conduct, according to the DHS spokesperson.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the United States,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Gomez-Alberto was currently living in the Bronx, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office told NOLA.com.
ICE lodged a detainer for Gomez-Alberto on Tuesday with the sheriff’s office after the incident in the air, according to DHS.
Gomez-Alberto allegedly threatened the United Airlines flight carrying 46 passengers and six crew members on Monday night, claiming he had a bomb as he rushed toward the cockpit, according to the airline and Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, local affiliate FOX8 reported.
Air Traffic Control audio revealed the nutjob was detained in the back of the plane after being convinced to head to the rear by the flight crew to allow the aircraft to eventually land safely in New Orleans.
“He changed into all black before he started trying to reach the cockpit,” local authorities are heard in the audio recording.
Cops arrested Alberto-Gomez after the plane landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.