Bomb Scare Suspect Dickens Faces 10 Years

AUGUSTA, GA – A Richmond County man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge related to a bomb threat targeting the Social Security Administration’s Augusta office.

Keyon Tishaye Dickens, 38, of Augusta, pled guilty to Using a Telephone to Make a Threat to Injure a Person or Damage a Building by Explosives, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

The plea subjects Dickens to a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and there is no parole in the federal system.

According to the plea agreement, Dickens received a notice in September 2023 that the Social Security Administration intended to recoup overpayments to his Supplemental Security Income from future SSI checks.

He called the Social Security Administration office in Augusta to complain and stated, “I’m going to shoot the office up and I’m going to blow it up. I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do.”

Dickens later visited the office carrying a backpack and showed a note that read “I have a bomb” to a security officer. The officer notified the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, and the building was locked down and evacuated. No bomb was found, and Richmond County deputies took Dickens into custody.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall will schedule sentencing for Dickens upon completion of a pre-sentence investigation by U.S. Probation Services.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs III.

The guilty plea is a significant blow to Dickens, who faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. The incident highlights the importance of taking bomb threats seriously and the consequences of making false threats.