Michigan Teen Sentenced To Prison For Making False Bomb Threat To Cruise Ship Girlfriend Was On

A Michigan teen was sentenced Monday to eight months in prison for making a hoax bomb threat because he was upset his girlfriend went on a cruise with her family while he had to stay behind to watch pets.

In January 2024, Joshua Darrell Lowe II, 19, wrote an email to Carnival Cruise Lines stating: “Hey, I think someone might have a bomb on your sunrise cruise ship.”

The Carnival Sunrise had just departed Miami en route to Jamaica during a Caribbean cruise. In response to the threat, the ship’s crew was forced to search more than 1,000 rooms. Carnival alerted both the U.S. Coast Guard and Jamaican authorities, whose Marine Police escorted the ship into port.

Lowe was indicted in September 2024, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan.

In a statement to the Associated Press, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said agents traced the email to Lowe, who was living with his girlfriend’s family at the time.

“Lowe admitted he sent the message because he was upset that the family went on the cruise, while leaving him behind to care for their pets,” Kessler told the outlet.

Lowe reportedly apologized in a letter to U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney, writing that “this is all my fault and take full responsibility.”

“Bomb threats are not a laughing matter and are extremely irresponsible,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan, said in a statement announcing the indictment. “When individuals make false hoax threats, they divert critical law enforcement resources and spread unnecessary fear. The FBI takes all threats to life seriously and will ensure that those who resort to this kind of intimidation face the appropriate consequences.”