A Panamanian teenager faces life without parole if he's convicted of sending IBM e-mail threatening to bomb its headquarters unless the company paid him $5 million.
The Associated Press reports Jahair Joel Navarro admitted sending such threats to both IBM and to Microsoft during a search of his family's Brooklyn home, according to a complaint signed by an FBI agent.
The threatening message received by IBM against its Armonk headquarters was traced to an America Online account under Navarro's stepfather's name. The similar threat against Microsoft led a judge to order him held without bail.
The IBM message said five bombs would destroy the facility unless Navarro was paid as demanded. A search of the family apartment found bomb making recipes and documents relating to terrorist techniques apparently downloaded from the Internet, the AP says, but the FBI says no bombs were ever found.
