Woman gets probation for calling in hoax bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital

A Massachusetts woman has been sentenced to three years of probation for calling in a fake bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital as it faced a barrage of harassment over its surgical program for transgender youths.

Catherine Leavy pleaded guilty last year in federal court to charges including making a false bomb threat. Authorities say the threat was made in August 2022 as the hospital was facing an onslaught of threats and harassment. The hospital launched the country’s first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program.

The U.S. attorney’s office announced Monday that she had been sentenced on Thursday. Her attorney, Forest O’Neill-Greenberg, didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

The hospital became the focus of far-right social media accounts, news outlets and bloggers last year after they found informational YouTube videos published by the hospital about surgical offerings for transgender patients.

Read more: AP