Ship terror hoaxer
pleads guiltyShe is released into her
parents' custody, but must
stay away from her boyfriend
Kelley Marie Ferguson, the 20-year-old California woman accused of leaving two threatening notes aboard a cruise ship, was granted freedom today after she changed her plea to guilty.
Ferguson, who according to her attorney in court this morning is seven months pregnant, will be released into the custody of her parents.
Magistrate Kevin Chang also ordered Ferguson to post a $5,000 bond after she returns to the family’s Laguna Hills home.
She could be released as early as today, said her attorney, Loretta Faymonville. Investigators had said Ferguson left the notes aboard Legend of the Seas in an attempt to cut short a vacation with her parents so she could return to her boyfriend in California.
One of the conditions for her release is that she must stay away from her boyfriend.
The notes were discovered April 22 and 23 while the cruise ship was enroute to Hilo from Ensenada, Mexico. The notes threatened to “kill all Americanos” if the ship stopped at any American port. Ferguson later admitted to writing the notes.
The threats forced the ship to cancel its stop at Hilo and anchor off Honolulu while 120 members of the Hawaii Joint Terrorism Task Force searched the vessel and questioned its 2,400 passengers and crew members.
Ferguson was indicted by a federal Grand Jury a week ago with two counts of giving false information about an attempt to kill passengers on mass transportation, each punishable by a maximum of 20 years imprisonment.
In a plea agreement, Ferguson today pleaded guilty to one count of the felony offense in return for dismissal of the other count.
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Legend of the Seas
The FBI responded to a bomb threat regarding the cruise ship Legend of the Seas as it was moored alongside a wharf at Hilo harbor yesterday, a state official said.
receives threat againThe FBI and police searched the ship without finding anything, and it sailed on schedule at 6 p.m., said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
The Legend of the Seas is the same ship that was the target of fake threats allegedly made by Kelley Marie Ferguson, 20, of Laguna Hills, Calif., last month. The woman was charged with two counts under the USA Patriot Act, which makes it illegal to give false information about attempts to kill passengers on a vehicle of mass transportation.
The ship arrived at Hilo harbor at 8 a.m. yesterday, Ishikawa said. The Miami office of Royal Caribbean Cruises, which owns the ship, informed Hawaii officials at 12:15 p.m. that it had received the threat.
