Mind Power: Harvard student Eldo Kim charged in final-exam bomb hoax

By CNN Staff

updated 12:09 PM EST, Wed December 18, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

A Harvard sophomore is accused of sending phony e-mail threats to avoid final exam
Eldo Kim, 20, allegedly e-mailed the threats half an hour before his exam was to begin
His exam and others were canceled for the day after buildings were evacuated
Kim's first court appearance is slated for Wednesday

(CNN) -- A Harvard University student was named Tuesday in a criminal complaint alleging he was responsible for bomb threats that led school officials to delay some final exams, including his, that had been scheduled for Monday.

Eldo Kim, 20, of Cambridge, allegedly e-mailed bomb threats at about 8:30 a.m. Monday to offices associated with Harvard, including the Harvard University Police Department and the Harvard Crimson, the student-run daily newspaper, according to the five-page complaint.

The subject line in each of the messages read "bombs placed around campus" and cited "shrapnel bombs" in four buildings on the school's main campus in Cambridge.

"2/4. guess correctly. be quick or they will go off soon," they said.

The Harvard police called in the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Secret Service; the Cambridge Police Department and the Boston Police Department along with numerous other first responders, including the Cambridge Fire Department.

The buildings were evacuated and swept by bomb technicians and hazmat officers, and access to Harvard Yard was restricted to students with Harvard IDs, according to the Harvard Gazette, the school's official news website.

Shortly before 3 p.m., long after Kim's exam had been canceled for the day, officials concluded that the threats were a hoax and reopened the buildings.

"Those who missed their exams due to the evacuation should be in touch with administrators about a makeup date or other arrangement," the Gazette said.

The e-mail messages had been sent through a service called Guerrilla Mail, which creates temporary and anonymous e-mail messages, according to the complaint. And the person had used a product called TOR, which assigns an anonymous Internet Protocol address that can be used to hide the identity of the sender, it added.

But the sender failed to do that, according to the complaint. "Harvard University was able to determine that, in the several hours leading up to the receipt of the e-mail messages described above, Eldo Kim accessed TOR using Harvard's wireless network," it said.

The Crimson identified Kim as a sophomore.

An FBI agent and an officer with the Harvard University Police Department interviewed Kim Monday night at his campus residence, where he "stated that he authored the bomb threat e-mails" and said he had acted alone, the complaint says.

"According to Kim, he was motivated by a desire to avoid a final exam scheduled to be held on (Monday)," the complaint said. He is to appear Wednesday in U.S. District Court before District of Massachusetts Chief Judge Judith G. Dein.

In a statement, school officials said they were "saddened by the details alleged in the criminal complaint" but had no further comment.

If convicted, the student could face a maximum of five years in prison, three years of suspended release, and a $250,000 fine.