FBI Arrests Suspect for Transphobic Bomb Threat Against Boston Children’s Hospital

The FBI announced an arrest on Thursday for a recent bomb threat against Boston Children’s Hospital, which was connected to a far-right campaign of threats and intimidation against the hospital after social media accounts claimed the hospital provided services to transgender youth.

U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins announced that Catherine Leavy of Westfield, Massachusetts was charged with one count of making a bomb threat over the telephone – a charge which could carry a 5-year prison sentence.

“There is a bomb on the way to the hospital. You better evacuate everybody. You sickos,” Leavy allegedly said to the hospital switchboard on Aug. 30.

The hospital became a target after transphobic right-wing media personalities like “LibsOfTikTok and Matt Walsh falsely claimed it was performing hysterectomies and other forms of ‘butchery’ on children,” reported the Daily Kos. The smear campaign against the hospital resulted in the hospital warning its employees of potential violence citing an “increase of threatening and aggressive” phone calls and emails sent to the hospital, reported NBC News in mid-August.

As the hospital worked to counter the claims online, other social media personalities on the right began to question whether the bomb threat was real in the first place – despite it resulting in a lockdown at the hospital.

“Here’s the police report that Boston Police Department provided to my team. Again, BPD told us it had no record of a 911 call reporting the bomb threat. So the question is: who alerted BPD? How did they communicate it? Where is the recording or documentation?” wrote Christopher F. Rufo on Twitter Wednesday.

Rufo’s statement led to Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi commenting, “No one even called the police about the fake bomb threat at Boston Children’s. So many questions.”

No one even called the police about the fake bomb threat at Boston Children’s. So many questions. https://t.co/by4eZ7KepG

— Mairead Elordi (@JohnsonHildy) September 14, 2022

LibsofTikTok added, “BREAKING: email obtained by @realchrisrufo shows the Boston Police confirming they DID NOT receive a 911 call about a bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital. Many questions remain. Will any journalists investigate?”

NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny summed up the whole incident, saying, “Interesting. The folks behind a months-long campaign to vilify children’s hospitals in Boston and beyond for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth have spent the last 24 hours suggesting that bomb threats the hospital received in the aftermath were overblown or faked.”

Interesting. The folks behind a months-long campaign to vilify children’s hospitals in Boston and beyond for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth have spent the last 24 hours suggesting that bomb threats the hospital received in the aftermath were overblown or faked. https://t.co/ddzHVIpoLu

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) September 15, 2022

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