Man admits making bomb threats on housing authority

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An Atlanta man pleaded guilty Tuesday to making a series of bomb threats against the Atlanta Housing Authority early this year.

Michael Ezzard, 47, who pleaded guilty to four counts of making bomb threats, faces up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. He will be sentenced Dec. 1 in federal court.

One of Ezzards' threats, on Jan. 22, forced the AHA to evacuate its offices on John Wesley Dobbs Avenue and prompted authorities to search the entire building. He had called the AHA stating there was a bomb in the building and that he was going to “kill everybody down there.”

Ezzard called in three similar threats over the next few days.

"These threats struck fear in the hearts of the AHA employees who were forced to quickly evacuate the building and caused great disruption to the surrounding businesses,” Acting U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said. “It also forced local law enforcement to waste valuable time and manpower responding to this hoax.”