NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Actor T.J. Miller called 911 to falsely claim that a woman he got into an argument with over loud cellphone conversations on a train had a bomb in her luggage, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The former “Silicon Valley” actor was arrested Monday at LaGuardia Airport in New York and released on $100,000 bond after an initial appearance in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut, on Tuesday.
The federal public defender who represented Miller did not immediately return a call for comment. A message left with a representative was not immediately returned and the voicemail box for Miller’s cellphone was full and could not accept messages.
Miller called in the false bomb information on March 18 after getting into what an Amtrak worker called a “screaming match” with a woman on a train traveling from Washington to New York, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said he at first gave the wrong train number and investigators found no explosives after stopping and evacuating passengers from a train in Westport, Connecticut.
Investigators called Miller back and he said the woman kept checking her bag without taking anything out and seemed to want to get off the train and leave her bag behind.
“I am worried for everyone on that train,” investigators said Miller told police. “Someone has to check that lady out.”
They stopped and removed passengers from the correct train and also didn’t find explosives.
Miller wasn’t on the train because he was removed in New York by Amtrak staff who suspected he was drunk after having multiple alcoholic beverages, prosecutors said.
A train attendant said that Miller “had been involved in hostile exchanges” with a woman in a different row of the first class car over loud cellphone conversations.
Miller faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
Monday’s arrest wasn’t Miller’s first brush with the law. He was arrested in Los Angeles in December 2016 after a confrontation with a driver.
Miller got his start performing stand-up, improv and sketch comedy in Chicago. In addition to his work on “Silicon Valley,” Miller has had roles in “Search Party,” Deadpool,” and in “Ready Player One.”
Associated Press
