Louisville - A man wanted in Australia for allegedly strapping a fake bomb to the neck of a teenage girl was arrested on Monday near Louisville, authorities said.
Paul “Doug” Peters, an Australian who police in New South Wales were seeking to apprehend in connection with last month's sensational bomb hoax, was taken into custody without incident, the FBI said.
Peters had been staying at the home of his former wife outside La Grange, Kentucky, about 40kms north-east of Louisville, the FBI said.
On August 3, a man wearing a balaclava broke into the Sydney home of Bill Pulver, the wealthy chief executive of a company that makes speech recognition and text-to-speech software.
The only person home was Pulver's 18-year-old daughter, Madeleine. The man strapped a device to the girl's neck that he claimed was a bomb he could detonate by remote control, and left behind a ransom note.
He also reportedly told the girl that the device had a microphone that allowed him to monitor her conversations.
The girl summoned help anyway and after a 10-hour ordeal, officers were able to remove the device, which turned out to be harmless.
Peters, who authorities believe left Australia on August 8, will appear in court in Louisville on Tuesday.
Australian authorities will seek to have him extradited to face charges in the bomb hoax, the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement. - Reuters