Student Brings Fake Bomb into Logan Airport

BOSTON -- A 19-year-old student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology walked into Boston's Logan International Airport on Friday with a fake bomb strapped to her chest and was arrested at gunpoint, authorities said.

Star Simpson, who is from Hawaii, wore a computer circuit board, wiring and a putty that later turned out to be Play-Doh strapped over her black hooded sweat shirt and in plain view, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport.

"She's extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would have been used," Pare told The Associated Press. "And she's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."

A Massachusetts Port Authority official notified State Police about 8 a.m., and troopers tracked Simpson down outside Terminal C, where they arrested her and determined the device was a fake.

Pare said authorities did not know what her motive was. Simpson was to be arraigned later in the day. She's charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device.

A spokeswoman for MIT had no immediate comment.