Juan Carlos Siblia-Lopez, 63 years old and a resident of Hialeah, was arrested by the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office after calling to report a bomb threat at the Salvation Army shelter located in the northwest part of the county.
The incident occurred on Wednesday when a receptionist at the shelter located at 1907 NW 38th Street received two consecutive calls from the same phone number.
During the second call, the employee put the phone on speaker, at which point she and a second witness heard the man say, "Mr. Brown, you know who I am. There is an active bomb in the building."
The building was evacuated immediately, and canine units from the Sheriff's Office searched the premises for several hours.
The authorities found no explosive devices or suspicious objects, and once the area was declared safe, the occupants were allowed to return.
The investigators traced the number from which the calls were made and determined that it belonged to Siblia-Lopez, who lives with her mother in Hialeah.
The information that caught the authorities' attention was that this number was registered under the name "Alex Boom", as reported by the Sheriff’s Office.
When questioned, Siblia-Lopez confirmed that his phone was registered under that name and confessed to having made the threat.
He was charged with the offense of submitting a false report regarding the placement of a bomb, a second-degree felony in Florida.
Under Florida Statute § 790.163, this conduct carries penalties of up to 15 years in prison, 15 years of probation, and fines of up to $10,000, in addition to the payment of costs incurred by the emergency response.
Siblia-Lopez was confined in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, awaiting the determination of bail.
The affected shelter is the Miami Area Command of the Salvation Army, one of the largest shelter facilities in the metropolitan area, with a capacity of between 236 and 280 beds, serving single women, families, veterans, and people experiencing homelessness.
False bomb threats have become a recurring problem in Miami-Dade during 2026, with incidents reported at shopping malls, hospitals, the zoo, and the international airport, among other locations.
In January, a Cuban was arrested at Miami airport for a similar case, highlighting the persistence of this type of behavior in the county.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office has repeatedly warned that these threats are not a joke, but a serious crime that is investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
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