MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK
There are plenty of red flags you want to be on the lookout for in a relationship if you’re someone who values your independence. That certainly includes dating someone who phones in a bomb threat to target a cruise ship you’re planning to travel on without taking them with you—a ploy that has led to the imprisonment of a man who admitted to doing exactly that.
Most people are willing to endure the trials and tribulations of the dating scene for the emotional payoff that comes with finally finding Your Person, and it can be difficult to grapple with the feelings you have to deal with when you find yourself separated from someone you feel like you’re inseparable from.
However, there aren’t many healthy relationships built on a foundation of crippling codependence, and it’s safe to say you need to do some serious soul-searching if you feel the urge to commit a felony because you find yourself facing a situation where you’re going to be apart from your partner for an extended period of time.
According to The Independent, Joshua Lowe, a 19-year-old from Michigan, was somewhat understandably disappointed to learn he wasn’t invited to join his girlfriend and her family on a Carnival cruise they booked to take a tour of the Caribbean last January.
Lowe, who was residing with his unidentified girlfriend and her family at the time, was not only denied the chance to escape the frigid winter weather in The Wolverine State but was asked to pet-sit while they were aboard the vessel that departed Miami shortly before the operating company received an email that stated, “Hey, I think someone might have a bomb on your sunrise cruise ship.”
The ship was subsequently forced to abandon its course to Jamaica and return to Florida as officials conducted a search that required them to comb through more than 1,000 rooms in search of what turned out to be a nonexistent explosive device.
The FBI was able to trace the message back to Lowe, who prosecutors say “admitted he sent the message because he was upset that the family went on the cruise, while leaving him behind to care for their pets.”
Lowe ultimately pleaded guilty in federal court after being charged with making a false bomb threat. While he could have landed in prison for five years, he will ultimately serve a maximum of eight months behind bars after being sentenced on Monday.