Overview
- A federal grand jury in Orlando indicted 20-year-old Daquan Lamont Smith on a charge of interstate transmission of a threat based on a Dec. 6, 2025 phone call that prosecutors quote as saying he had a bomb aboard a cruise ship.
- Prosecutors say the call crossed state lines and the FBI investigated the matter, and Smith has pleaded not guilty and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
- Local records show the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office initially looked into the call but declined to prosecute because the conduct occurred outside its jurisdiction, prompting the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida to take the case.
- Smith’s defense has filed motions to move the case to Illinois and to suppress statements from an unrecorded FBI interview that the defense says was conducted without Miranda warnings, and the next hearing is set for Oct. 13, 2026.
- Public filings and the Justice Department release do not identify a specific ship or say an explosive device was found or that passengers were evacuated, underscoring that the indictment accuses a threatening communication rather than proving a security breach.