He Threatened To Blow Up A Plane, Now Remains On House Arrest

WALNUT, CA — A Walnut man who has already served two months in jail was sentenced Monday to four additional months of home detention for falsely reporting to an airline and law enforcement that an acquaintance planned to blow up an airplane last summer.

Dino Ninku, 37, admitted calling the Asiana Airlines reservations center in Los Angeles last Aug. 5 and falsely reporting that a passenger planning to travel from Asia to the United States two weeks later posed a terrorist threat and was threatening to blow up the plane.

Ninku also admitted telling the Asiana representative that the passenger had been recruiting other people in the U.S., provided details about the passenger's flight itinerary and said that the attack would happen either on a flight from China to South Korea or a flight from South Korea to Los Angeles, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald -- who sentenced Ninku to time served and three years of supervised release, including the period of home detention -- said the defendant was guilty of a "very serious crime." Society cannot function when "petty feuds" lead to such disruptive actions, the judge said.

But, Fitzgerald added, to place Ninku behind bars again "makes no sense" because he would probably lose his job and be unable to take his current medication, which has been helpful.

Ninku was also ordered to pay the victim -- whose name was withheld -- nearly $2,000 in restitution.

Ninku pleaded guilty in February to a federal count of conveying false information and hoaxes, a charge that carries a possible five-year maximum term in federal prison. Prosecutors recommended a six-month prison term, while the defense successfully argued for a probationary sentence.

"Let's be realistic," defense attorney Stanley Greenberg wrote in his sentencing memorandum. "Anyone who does what (Ninku did) is either remarkably dumb, drunk, delusional and/or deranged."

In court Monday, Greenberg said his client is "not the same person that he was" and that "probation seems appropriate."

After receiving the threat, Asiana Airlines relayed the information to law enforcement agencies in the United States, China and South Korea. Multiple law enforcement agencies investigated the anonymous threat, including the FBI, which received a similar report via the internet. A report to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also provided details of the alleged threat, adding that the passenger planned to "take out public locations in the U.S. mainland" through the passenger's "network," according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.

A report was also made to LAPD's iWatch Program. As part of the ensuing investigation, the victim of Ninku's hoax -- a Chinese national who was enrolled at Cal State Fullerton -- became the subject of national security interest, and the U.S. State Department revoked the victim's student visa.

Further investigation revealed that the person was a legitimate student pursuing an education, was not a member of a terrorist organization, and did not pose any known threat to the United States, prosecutors said.

Ninku ultimately admitted during an interview with an FBI agent that the victim did not make terrorist threats and does not pose a credible threat to the United States, court documents show.

Photo: Renee Schiavone, Patch Staff