Friday, August 1, 2008
Area man charged in ‘joke’ about 9-11

By Scott J. Croteau TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
scroteau@telegram.com

http://www.telegram.com:80/article/20080801/NEWS/808010588/1116

He’s known as a political activist at Humboldt State University in California.

Jason T. Robo’s family also knows he has political views that fall outside the mainstream.

When Philip Robo of Leicester dropped his nephew, Jason, off at the Logan Express station in Framingham Wednesday night, he told the 26-year-old student to be careful.

He didn’t think his nephew would be charged a few hours later with holding up a Delta Air Lines flight for three hours by slapping a “9-11 was an Inside Job,” sticker on the plane’s bathroom sink.

“I actually brought him to the Framingham Logan Express and I said, ‘Jason, I love you kid. You are going back to the airport. They hold all the cards. They are in charge. Be careful,’ ” Philip Robo said yesterday.

The words were almost fatherly advice. It wasn’t as if Philip Robo knew Jason Robo was going to do anything.

“He’s a good kid. I didn’t think he was going to do anything,” the uncle said.

Jason Robo listed Worcester as his place of birth, but didn’t really grow up here. His father, who is in the Navy, moved from state to state, taking his son with him. Jason Robo now lives in Eureka, Calif.

Wearing a yellow T-shirt featuring images of President Bush and Adolf Hitler, Jason Robo boarded Delta flight 1165 to Salt Lake City around 5 p.m. at Logan International Airport Wednesday, according to a press release issued by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Sometime before takeoff, Mr. Robo allegedly left his seat — number 35A — and went to a bathroom on the co-pilot’s side of the plane. He came back to his seat without the yellow shirt.

A flight attendant went into the bathroom and allegedly found a sticker that had “9-11 was an Inside Job! PrisonPlanet.com” written in magic marker on it. The address-label-type sticker was on a sink. Another sticker was found on a fold-down tray next to where Mr. Robo sat. PrisonPlanet.com is a Web site of talk show host and filmmaker Alex Jones. The site describes Mr. Jones as being “considered by some to be the grandfather of what has come to be known as the 9-11 Truth Movement.”

Mr. Robo allegedly ran off the plane afterward — a few minutes before the scheduled 5:14 p.m. take-off.

“I have to get off this plane right now,” he allegedly said while scurrying toward the exit.

“Massachusetts State Police assigned to Logan Airport responded to the scene, spoke with members of the flight crew and initiated a search for Robo,” the news release said. “He was soon located at the baggage claim and, upon being taken into custody, made statements indicating that the stickers were ‘a joke.’ ”

Other stickers were found on a public telephone in the airport and crumpled up on another seat on the plane, authorities allege.

All of the people on the plane were evacuated and state police used dogs to search the plane and baggage. No explosives were found and the plane left with its passengers about three hours after its scheduled takeoff.

Mr. Robo was charged yesterday in East Boston District Court with interfering with aircraft operation, disorderly conduct and disorderly conduct on a public conveyance. He was released on personal recognizance and will return to court Aug. 19.

Philip Robo said his nephew was in the area recently visiting his grandmothers, who live in Westboro and Auburn.

When asked whether Jason Robo holds conspiracy-theory type beliefs, he said, “He has his own political views. He made a poor decision.”

A self-described “hyperactivist/scholarly revolutionary,” Mr. Robo has had a tumultuous year.

In March, he was impeached from his student government position at Humboldt State University, and in April, he was deemed ineligible to run for president of the organization, according to The Lumberjack, HSU’s student-run newspaper.

At the time he was taken off the ballot, he was in second place after one round of voting and close enough that he would have had a runoff with his opponent.

He told The Lumberjack that month, “I’m not surprised with the administration’s actions. It’s arbitrary power.”

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