BANGOR, Maine (WHNT) – A Decatur man is accused of sending text messages that showed airline employees’ personal details and indicated an incident involving a bomb would happen at the Bangor International Airport.
Robert Tyler Wicks is charged with false Information and hoaxes, according to a criminal complaint. Court documents show that because of the threats Wicks is accused of making several flights were impacted or delayed.
The complaint stated that on February 13, 2025, two American Airlines employees received several text messages that indicated the sender had personal details about both people.
One message said, “So you like those bots that’s a virus being sent to your phone [smile emoji] have fun with that next person I’m attending to attack is Mary lol. Good luck buddy in that office I got my plans for you all in that airport… guns and s*** ready.”
Another message read, “Imma definitely do a bomb [bomb emoji] threat this will be something to worry about you ready for some fun gay boy you ready to see what happens being in the office today you wont even notice whats gonna happen to that airport. Tomorrow morning at 10:50 a.m. you’re gonna see what happens dead inside that airport buddy.”
The agent said that security personnel at the airport immediately responded to the threat, enlisting help from the FBI, Federal Air Marshals Service, Bangor Police Department and the Army National Guard.
Since the threats were directed at the private phone numbers of airport employees, the FBI found them to be considerably credible. The agent said that due to these details, they believed the sender was someone who had knowledge of the potential target and could gain access to the airport.
On Feb. 14, someone called the airport line saying they “wanted to talk to the bomb squad.” The agent said the caller told them, “I have a timer on these bombs… I’m panicking really bad right now.” When another FBI agent got on the phone with the caller, they initiated a countdown of when the bombs were supposed to go off.
The documents show that the threats “initiated a significant law enforcement response” over the span of two days in Maine, Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama. Flights from both Allegiant Airlines and American Airlines were impacted.
According to the complaint, the readiness of the Maine Army National Guard was inhibited due to the main gate being closed for the threat.
After multiple text messages, the FBI was able to identify the number as a TextMe user, dhehefd1016. Agents were able to find 23 messages sent to the AA employees between 11:21 a.m. and 11:47 a.m.
The IP address and phone were traced back to an address belonging to someone with the last name Wicks in Louisburg, Tenn. The location data for the phone number was traced to cell towers in Decatur.
The morning of Feb. 14, the sender called the airport switchboard demanding to speak with the law enforcement officer who was conducting the investigation.
The complaint states the caller said, “I will surrender… I want to talk to the actual bomb person… You want to see something happen from up in the sky launched into the airport? Or do you want to see this not continue. Because I want to get this situation fixed here and I want to talk to that man personally.”
The switchboard eventually connected the caller to the FBI negotiation team, whom he gave an alias to.
The same day the call was made to the switchboard, law enforcement called the registered owner of the number the IP address traced back to, and the registered owner said they had moved to Decatur with their son, later identified as Robert Wicks.
Wicks claimed he was directed to make these threat calls by a friend in the United Kingdom named Ethan, but later admitted that was a lie. He said he had placed the bomb threat calls himself and used an alias while doing so.
He told an FBI agent in Huntsville he purposely created new emails to use TextMe and VoizyAI, a phone call bot application.
While he was being interviewed by FBI agents in Huntsville, Wicks admitted that he had an online relationship with an AA employee, who was video chatting with Wicks on February 13. She showed him law enforcement responding to the threats over the phone but it appeared she was filming, prompting investigators to approach her.
Ultimately, the woman’s phone was taken by investigators and they ended the call.
Wicks said he got the other AA employees’ contact info during a previous video chat with her where she was screensharing.
The criminal complaint shows Wicks then consented to searches of the phones they believe he used to carry out these threats, which revealed numerous texts and calls to the airport and other parties involved.
On May 15, a U.S. Magistrate Judge issued an arrest warrant for Wicks, and court records show he was arrested on Wednesday.
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