TV Star TJ Miller Phoned In Drunk Bomb Threat On Train In NJ: DOJ

An actor and stand-up comedian was arrested Monday night for reporting a false bomb threat on a train in New Jersey, according to the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to a release, Todd Joseph "T.J." Miller, 36, was arrested Monday night at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, N.Y. on charges of "intentionally conveying to law enforcement false information about an explosive device."

He appeared Tuesday before a judge in New Haven and was released on a $100,000 bond, officials said. The charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.

Miller is best-known for playing tech entrepreneur Erlich Bachman on the HBO comedy series "Silicon Valley," which he recently exited prior to the start of the show's fifth season, and for his roles in movies such as "Deadpool," the animated "Big Hero 6" and the recently released Steven Spielberg film "Ready Player One."

According to authorities, the actor called a 911 dispatcher in New Jersey on March 18 and reported that he was on an Amtrak Train traveling from Washington, D.C. toward Penn Station in New York, and that a female passenger “[had] a bomb in her bag.”

Authorities said Miller described the woman as having brown hair and a scarf. Amtrak investigators subsequently stopped the train at Green’s Farms Station in Westport, where bomb squad members boarded and searched the train. However, no evidence of any explosive device or materials was detected, according to authorities.

According to authorities, Miller allegedly told an investigator over the phone that the woman was carrying a “black bag carry-on suitcase with a handle” and kept checking her bag without taking anything out. He also allegedly said the woman kept asking the First Class attendant what the next stop was, and seemed to want to get off the train and leave her bag behind.

Authorities later discovered Miller was on a different train. An attendant from the First Class car where Miller had been sitting said he "appeared intoxicated upon boarding in Washington, that he consumed multiple drinks on the train and that he had been removed in New York owing to his intoxication."

The attendant also said he had been involved in "hostile exchanges" with a woman sitting in a different row, authorities said.

After identifying and interviewing the woman in question, authorities alleged that Miller, motivated by a grudge against the woman, called 911 to "relay false information about a suspected bomb on the train, and continued to convey false information to investigators while the public safety response was ongoing."

The alleged incident is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Connecticut State Police, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, Amtrak Police Department and Westport Police Department.

Photo credit: YouTube

With reporting by RJ Scofield,