A Central Islip man was arrested at his home early Saturday for threatening to plant a bomb at a Long Island Power Authority station, police said.
Rajiv Pandey, 33, called News 12 in Woodbury and threatened to plant the bomb at an unspecified LIPA station, prompting police to be dispatched to more than 30 facilities, detectives said.
The bomb threat call, which detectives traced to Pandey’s old cell phone, turned to be a false alarm.
Pandey was charged with falsely reporting, second-degree incident. His arraignment was scheduled for Saturday. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney.
While Pandey didn’t appear to give a reason for his menacing call, thousands of Long Island residents have expressed frustration that their power remains out, nearly a week after Tropical Storm Irene tore through the area.
More than 56,000 customers remain without power in New York state, with 37,000 of those being LIPA customers, the governor’s office said Saturday morning.
Exasperation has continued to build throughout the week as many residents, some of whom have had to throw out pounds upon pounds of spoiled food and shower in gymnasiums, say LIPA hasn’t done enough to restore power.
Local
On Wednesday, a Hicksville man was arrested after he called the Nassau County Department of Emergency Management and made "numerous" threats against LIPA.
The 46-year-old man was "irate" about having no electricity in his home days after Irene left the area, officials said. He was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment and arraigned Thursday.
