Nathaniel Heatwole
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Nathaniel "Nat" Heatwole (born May 29, 1983) is a political science and physics student at Guilford College, accused of planting box cutters, and other banned items, inside two commercial airplanes.
Heatwole, a self-proclaimed pacifist, allegedly sent an e-mail to the TSA where he said he knew of some security breaches that had happened between February 7 and September 14, 2003, at two Eastern coast airports. The letter was sent on September 15, which was also the day in which packages containing banned materials were found inside two Southwest Airlines 737's, one of which landed in Houston and the other one in New Orleans. The TSA waited until October 17 to send the letter to the FBI, agency which promptly located the alleged author.
On Monday, October 20, he was charged with taking a dangerous weapon aboard an aircraft, a charge that could send him to jail for a maximum of 10 years if found guilty. United States magistrate Judge Susan K. Gauvey allowed him to go free on his on recognizance. Ultimately, the felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Heatwole pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years supervised probation and fined $500. He was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, and to reimburse his parents for up to $500 in legal expenses.
According to the e-mails sent to the TSA, Heatwole acted as a way of public disobedience to show flaws in the airport security systems of the United States.