LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas resident running for Nevada state Senate in District 8 threatened to blow up a plane on Sept. 9, 2003 — nearly two years after 9/11 — after he missed his connecting flight in Phoenix.
Republican Joey Paulos, a longtime gaming executive running against incumbent Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop, D-Las Vegas, in the Nov. 8 midterm election, was charged with two counts of false information or threats to place an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.
He pleaded guilty in a pre-trial agreement, and after he completed a diversion program, the case was dismissed by the government, according to court records.
Paulos called that time the “hardest decade in his life,” as he was struggling with an opioid addiction and had a brother who died from a drug overdose. Paulos said he has been sober for more than 15 years.
“Bottom line, the case was dismissed. I was never convicted. It was just an unfortunate incident,” he told the Review-Journal.
“If I could do it over again, I would, but I can’t. What I can do, however, is talk openly about it and, most importantly, talk openly about why I was in Phoenix that day and my sobriety since,” Paulos said in the statement.
Returning from rehab
In 2003, Paulos was returning from a drug rehabilitation program when his flight was delayed due to weather, and he missed a connecting flight from Phoenix to Las Vegas. His luggage was on the connecting flight, and he carried only his ID, he said.
“I was frustrated,” Paulos said.
The airport bureau of the Phoenix Police Department detained Paulos after he was heard making bomb threats inside the airport at the America West Airlines passenger assistance center, according to an affidavit by a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation that was obtained by the Review-Journal.
Paulos went to the America West passenger assistance center and demanded to be given a first-class ticket to Las Vegas and a free ticket to anywhere America West flew as compensation for missing his connecting flight, according to the affidavit.
When the airline refused, he became upset and made a phone call from the counter, where he said, “If I don’t get my ticket, I’m going to blow up a plane, or blow this place up,” according to the affidavit.
A special service representative for America West said that “Paulos was acting in a volatile, and rude manner, using profanity while demanding to be upgraded to first class for his flight to Las Vegas, and also demanding a free ticket from America West as compensation for his inconvenience,” according to the affidavit.
The representative said he believed Paulos was “potentially dangerous,” so Paulos was arrested by the Phoenix Police Department in regard to the bomb statement he made as well as possession of controlled substances, according to the affidavit. He spent three days in jail in Maricopa County, and in his conditions for release, he had to refrain from any use of alcohol or controlled substances and had to participate in drug/alcohol counseling and treatment, according to court records. He also had to surrender his passport, which he later got back after the case was dismissed.
Those controlled substances were medications his rehabilitation program had given him to help with withdrawal as well as sleep and anxiety, his campaign said.
Says threat was a joke
Paulos told police that he apologized for making the statement and made the comment as a joke.
In a video to his supporters on his campaign website, he said that period was the hardest decade in his life, and that he has been sober for more than 15 years. In 2007, his brother died from a drug overdose. He said he is stronger because of his experiences, which will help him serve in the Nevada Legislature.
“Simply put, 19 years ago, I made a mistake. … I was boiling with frustration because my plane home to Las Vegas had pulled away from the jetway with my bags on it but not me,” Paulos said in a statement.
“It was an isolated incident, and I take full responsibility for my conduct. I deeply regret having put my family and friends through that humbling experience,” he said.
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