Manchester man faces terrorism charges for alleged Mohegan casino threat
Mohegan – A 28-year-old Manchester man is facing threatening and terrorism charges for allegedly phoning in a bomb threat to Mohegan Sun casino and invoking the name of ISIS.
Mohegan Tribal Police arrested Gary L. Kalinsky of 71 Waddell Road on Jan. 8 in connection with a 3:21 a.m. call on Nov. 18 to an unlisted number given to casino patrons with lost items. The caller said he left a briefcase behind at the casino and needed it back.
“I was the front of ISIS and the briefcase contains a very, very, very highly sensitive bomb and, if I don’t get it back in about 25 minutes, it might explode in you guy’s face in the casino,” the caller said, according to an arrest warrant affidavit in the case.
Casino security checked for a briefcase and placed the fire department on standby. No briefcase was found, and police determined there was no legitimate threat.
Police identified Kalinsky’s number as the origin of the call because their records showed Kalinsky had called a day or two earlier to report a missing jacket.
Manchester police left a note at Kalinsky’s home to call tribal police. Police said he called tribal police and admitted to reporting a lost jacket but denied making the threatening call.
“I wouldn’t do that. That’s terrorism,” he told police, according to the affidavit.
Police were not able to confirm a record of the call to the casino coming from Kalinsky’s home phone, though a representative from T-Mobile told police that calls made through Wi-Fi would not show up on the record.
The security officer investigating the case, Tom Nickerson, was the same officer who had taken the lost jacket report and said he recognized Kalinsky’s voice as the man who had reported the missing jacket, according to the affidavit.
Kalinsky is charged with first-degree threatening and act of terrorism. He remains held in lieu of a $10,000 bond, according to court records. Represented by a public defender, he is due to appear Jan. 28 in Norwich Superior Court and has not yet entered a plea.
First-degree threatening is a class D felony, which carries a one- to five-year prison sentence with a conviction. The charge of act of terrorism serves as a sentencing enhancer, according to state statute.
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