A Long Island woman worried about her mom and brother flying to New York on the eve of 9/11 was busted for trying to ground their flight — by twice phoning in false bomb threats against the Southwest Airlines plane they were taking from Arizona, the feds said today.
The loony Saturday morning stunt by ex-con Mary Purcell, 37, of Lake Ronkonkoma, sparked a massive security response at Tucson Airport — where a horde of police, bomb-experts and explosive-sniffing dogs quickly swarmed around Flight 2475 to re-screen luggage and passengers as a security alert for the entire airport was elevated.
“We felt that it was a credible threat,” said John Ivanoff, chief of the Tuscon Airport Authority Police. “We were already at a heightened state of alert [because of the 9-11 anniversary Al Qaeda threats], but more manpower was needed.”
Police at the airport also interviewed passengers, including Purcell’s mother and brother, Mary and William Meyer, who appeared to have no knowledge about the bomb threat.
“They were baffled,” Ivanoff said.
The plane ended up departing about 10 minutes late.
The FBI quickly traced the threatening calls to a landline phone registered to Margaret Meyer’s home in Lake Ronkonkoma, according to an arrest warrant affidavit for Purcell.
Later Saturday, an FBI agent went to the Meyer home and interviewed Purcell, who first claimed she had called Southwest Airlines to ask why the flight was delayed, and “whether there was a terror or bomb threat,” the affidavit said. “Southwest Airlines would not inform her the reason for the delay, so she twice hung up.”
Several hours later, in another interview with the FBI, Purcell admitted that after hanging up a second time, she had called Tucson Airport Authority Police directly and “stated that she overheard her boyfriend and his friends talking about carrying out a bombing of Flight 2475 when it got to New York,” an arrest warrant revealed.
“She warned them not to let Flight 2475 depart; and . . . she stated there was a bomb,” the warrant said.
Purcell told the FBI agent that “her story about the bomb was false, there was no plot against Flight 2475,” the warrant said.
“And she had made up the story because she did not want her mother and brother flying around the anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks,” the warrant said.
Purcell, who is on parole for a forgery conviction, appeared in federal court in Central Islip, LI, today to face the charge of phoning in a bomb threat, a crime that could land her in prison for up to 10 years if she is convicted.
She was released on a $200,000 bond secured by the collateral of the Lake Ronkonkoma home, and both her tearful mother and brother signed that bond.
“I’m not gonna comment,” Purcell said as she walked out of court, covering her face with a white t-shirt.
mitchel.maddux@nypost.com