The South Florida man who was arrested after making a joke about a bomb at Miami International Airport appeared before a judge Tuesday where he tried to explain himself.
Edgar Fabian Navarrete, 43, was arrested at the airport Monday for making a bomb threat. He appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Rodney Smith Tuesday, who set his bond at $7,500.
Navarrete pleaded his case to Smith while speaking through a Spanish interpreter.
"It was a joke," Navarrete said.
"It was a joke? Well, a joke gets you behind jail like this sir," Smith said. "Those jokes are not funny, because you get arrested."
Police said Navarrete had taken his friend to the airport and was nearby when TSA agents asked whether the friend had any liquids or other items not allowed. Navarrete jokingly said his friend had a bomb, police said. The friend was detained and Navarrete was later arrested.
"He can't make jokes like that,' Smith said. "It's not funny now, right? Nobody laughing, see?"
Navarrete told the judge he's lived in Miami the past three years. His public defender argued that the joke didn't affect any other passengers.
"That's not a good joke to tell. Why not 'why did the chicken cross the road' or something? that would have been fine," Smith said.
Smith also ordered Navarrete to surrender his passport.
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