MIAMI – An 18-year-old honors student at Florida International University , charged with terrorism-related offenses for allegedly posting bomb threats on social media , claimed Monday that his Instagram posts were intended as a “joke.”
“It was a joke, it was supposed to be a joke, but it got taken to something literal,” Rolando Hernandez-Padron told CBS News Miami upon his release on bail from Miami-Dade County jail on Monday evening.
Ronaldo Hernandez-Padron , a graduate of South Miami High School, was arrested on Jan. 4 after the FBI received a tip about concerning posts from an Instagram account with the handle “JurassicParkLover2006.”
According to investigators, the posts included statements such as “Bad things are going to happen” and “Bombing a house today.”
Instagram flagged the posts and provided information linking the account to Hernandez-Padron, including his residential address and date of birth.