Cops Ask Techie, Hoodie or Bomb?

An MIT sophomore, wearing a circuit board sewn onto the front of her black hooded sweatshirt, was arrested at gunpoint Friday morning at Logan International Airport after police mistook the device for an explosive.

The student, Star A. Simpson, was charged with disorderly conduct and possession of a hoax device, according to Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Wayne Margolis.

Simpson first raised suspicions when she approached a MassPort employee working in Terminal C to ask about the status of an arriving flight.

After briefly meandering through the terminal, Simpson exited and was confronted by Massachusetts State Police troopers wielding submachine guns, State Police Major Scott Pare said in a press conference Friday morning.

“She followed instructions as was required by the State Police and within minutes the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit found that it was an innocuous device and we took her into custody,” Pare said according to MIT’s student paper The Tech.

“Thankfully, because she followed instructions as was required, she ended up in a cell as opposed to the morgue. Had she not followed instructions, deadly force may have been used.”

At the time of her arrest, Simpson was also holding play-doh, which authorities mistook for explosives.

According to The Tech, she was at the airport to meet her boyfriend Tim Anderson who was arriving from Oakland.

Pare said that he was “shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport at this time.”

“We’re currently under aviation threat level Orange. The threat is there against aviation,” the Tech quoted him saying.

At her arraignment Friday, Margolis asked for $5,000 cash bail.

He said that she refused to explain her sweatshirt to the MassPort employee in Terminal C, and showed “a total disregard to understand the context of the situation she’s in, which is an airport post-9/11.”

Simpson’s attorney Ross E. Schreiber called the bail amount “completely unreasonable,” The Tech also reported. He argued that her active involvement in the MIT Electronics Research Society and her achievements as a National Merit semi-finalist should warrant a lower the bail.

Bail was set by Judge Paul Mahony at $750. As part of her release agreement, Simpson must stay away from Logan Airport between now and her pre-trial hearing on Oct. 29, 2007, according to The Tech.

Simpson could face as many as 6 months in prison for the disorderly conduct charge, and 5 years for the possession of a hoax device one.

The scare was somewhat reminiscent of last January when the Boston Police Department closed roads and bridges in response to a series of illuminated signs promoting the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” movie that were mistaken for explosive devices.

—Staff writer Noah S. Bloom can be reached at nsbloom@fas.harvard.edu.

—Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.