Former “Silicon Valley” actor T.J. Miller was arrested and accused of making a false bomb threat from a train last month, prosecutors said.
Miller was arrested Monday night at LaGuardia Airport in New York City and was charged with intentionally conveying false information to law enforcement, which has a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. He was released on $100,000 bail.
Prosecutors said Miller called 911 while on an Amtrak train on March 18, saying that a woman with brown hair and a brown scarf was carrying a bomb in her bag. When the train stopped at Westport, Connecticut, Amtrak investigators had the passengers disembark and sent in a bomb squad to search the train. Nothing was found.
Later, an investigator contacted Miller about his claim. Prosecutors said Miller’s description of the woman was different, and that the investigator detected slurring in his voice. Miller said the woman kept checking her bag — which he described as a “black bag carry on suitcase with a handle” — without taking anything out, prosecutors said. He also said she kept asking the first-class attendant what the next stop was, and seemed to want to get off the train and leave her bag behind, prosecutors added. When asked if he had been drinking, Miller said he only had one glass of wine, prosecutors said.
During the stop, Amtrak officers spoke with the attendant in the first-class car where Miller had been sitting, who said the actor appeared intoxicated when he boarded the train and had multiple drinks while onboard, prosecutors said. The attendant also said that Miller had been hostile towards a woman sitting in a different row from him on the train, prosecutors added. Investigators identified the woman and determined that she did not have the bag Miller described.
Representatives for Miller did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Connecticut State Police, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, Amtrak Police Department and Westport Police Department.
Miller left HBO’s “Silicon Valley” last year after for four seasons, citing creative differences with showrunners Mike Judge and Alec Berg. He most recently appeared in the Steven Spielberg film “Ready Player One” in a voice role.