Social Security Bomb Threat Suspect Indicted in Richmond County
A man who was taken into custody in connection with a bomb threat in October at the Social Security Administration Office in Richmond County has been indicted in Federal Court.
The indictment alleges 38-year-old Keyon Tishaye Dickens of Augusta called the Social Security office on Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway October 10 and threatened to blow up the building.
Authorities say he later walked into the office carrying a backpack, then displayed a note to a security officer at the office with the handwritten message, “I have a bomb.” The officer notified the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
The building was locked down and evacuated and officials say no bomb was found. Dickens was taken into custody. He is currently being held in the Jefferson County Detention Center after being indicted for Using a Telephone to Make a Threat to Injure a Person or Damage a Building by Explosives, and two counts of False Information and Bomb Hoax. He was charged in 2018 with multiple counts of Aggravated Assault and multiple counts of Criminal Trespass and was sentenced to four years in prison, plus 10 years of probation.
Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, said the phone charge carries a statutory penalty upon conviction of up to 10 years in prison, and each of the hoax charges carry a statutory penalty of up to five years in prison, along with substantial penalties and a period of supervised release upon completion of any prison term.
There is no parole in the federal system.
“We take seriously any threats of violence against government employees or other workers,” said Steinberg. “Actions intended to frighten and intimidate innocent people will not be tolerated.”
The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
