A Michigan teen was recently convicted to eight months in prison for reporting a false bomb threat on a cruise ship to prevent his girlfriend from going on a cruise without him.

In January 2024, a few minutes after the Carnival Sunrise cruise ship left the port of Miami, Florida, for Jamaica, Carnival Cruise Lines received a mysterious email that read: “Hey, I think someone might have a bomb on your sunrise cruise ship.”  This simple one-liner set in motion a costly security operation that involved both the US and Jamaican Coast Guard and the thorough search of the Sunshine’s more than 1,000 rooms. After several hours of delay, the Sunshine was able to continue its journey to the Caribbean, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Authorities managed to trace the email to a 19-year-old man in Michigan who later admitted to reporting the false bomb threat, claiming that he was trying to prevent his girlfriend and her family from going on the cruise without him.