A Georgia man pleaded guilty to making a bomb threat at a Social Security Administration office after the agency notified him it would recoup overpayments from his future checks, officials said.
Keyon Tishaye Dickens, 38, pleaded guilty to using a telephone to make a threat to injure a person or damage a building by explosives, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia said in a press release Monday.
According to the plea agreement, Dickens was notified in September last year that the SSA planned to recoup overpayments to his Supplemental Security Income from his future SSI checks. SSI is paid to older Americans over age 65, as well as to younger adults and children with disabilities.
In response to the notification, Dickens called the SSA office in Augusta and stated: "I'm going to shoot the office up and I'm going to blow it up. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do."
Later, Dickens visited the office while carrying a backpack, and passed a not to a security officer that read: "I have a bomb."
The Richmond County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene, evacuated the building and locked it down. No bomb was found, and Dickens was taken into custody.
Dickens faces up to 10 years in prison. His sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
--with reporting by TMX
