A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a nearly half-million dollar restitution order against an Oklahoma City man convicted of telephoning a bomb threat to Tinker Air Force base.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver agreed with a lower court that the restitution order for $475,631 was fair.
Neil Jason Wilfong, 37, pleaded guilty last year to a charge connected to a bomb threat he phoned in to Tinker in 2006. He was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution, most of which was for lost employee work hours caused by the evacuation.
Wilfong telephoned his mother at Tinker Air Force Base on Dec. 15, 2006, and when he was told she was unavailable, he replied, "Well, there's a bomb in the building," according to court papers. Workers in Building 3001, which holds large portions of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center operations, were evacuated as a precaution. The building was checked, no dangerous devices were found and employees were allowed to return to the building after a few hours.
Wilfong appealed both his restitution order and his sentence, both of which were upheld in the 10th Circuit ruling.
In his appeal, Wilfong argued that he could not be required to pay restitution for the value of the lost employee work time resulting from his phony bomb threat, but the court disagreed.
"When Mr. Wilfong issued his bomb threat and Building 3001 was evacuated, Tinker Air Force Base lost the value of this 'property' just as surely as a printing plant would lose the value of its property if an arsonist struck a match to its paper supply," the court wrote. "Value was destroyed. The property could not be returned."
Wilfong also challenged his 48-month prison sentence, which was longer than the recommended sentencing guidelines range of 24-30 months. But the appeals court upheld the sentence, arguing that Wilfong waived his argument due to "inadequate briefing."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
