A Miami man laughed after telling an American Airlines ticket agent he had a grenade in his luggage. He is now facing up to 15 years in prison and a permanent felony conviction that no judge in Florida is legally permitted to set aside.
Osniel Blanco-López, 52, a Cuban-born Miami resident, was at an American Airlines check-in counter at Miami International Airport in the early hours of Sunday, August 31, when an agent posed a standard security question: did he have any dangerous goods in his bags?
Blanco-López first said no, then added in Spanish, “Tengo una granada” — “I have a grenade” — and began laughing. A nearby ticket agent who overheard him told Blanco-López flatly that “that is not a joke,” according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrest report, and immediately contacted authorities…